An initiative of the Association Mary of Nazareth August 2 – Feast of Our Lady of the Portiuncula (Our Lady of the Angels, Italy) Saint Francis wanted everyone to have a great veneration for this special place The miracle of the Porziuncola; painting by Antonio de Oliveira Bernardes (1698); Cathedral of Évora, Portugal. (Public Domain) Today’s feast day is very important to the Order of Friars Minor of Saint Francis of Assisi. The saint cherished and loved this little chapel of Our Lady of Angels near Assisi… It was where the Lord had intended for him to start his Order—which is why he wanted to call that church Our Lady of the Portiuncula, since it was destined to be the mother and head of a small flock of Friars Minor. Saint Francis wanted everyone to have a great veneration for this special place. In January 1223, accompanied by Brother Francis Massé, he went to visit Pope Honorius III, who was then in Perugia, and obtained from him a plenary indulgence on this day each year for those who would come to the Church of Our Lady of the Angels from the sunset of the first day of August and stay until the sunset of the feast day, on the second day of that month, on which day the church had been solemnly dedicated by seven bishops by order of the Pope. Saint Bonaventure said that at the time of his death, Saint Francis had asked to be carried to the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, so as to finish his temporal life in the special place where he had received the spiritual life and the life of grace. Antoine-Martial Lefevre Historical Calendar, chronological and moral of the Very Holy and Very Glorious Virgin Mary Mother of God… Paris, Ed. Claude Hérissant Fils, 1749. Let’s pray together Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death. Amen. . Share A Moment with Mary and give your loved ones the opportunity to discover a new aspect of the mystery of the Mother of God each day.