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ASSISI

 

It was the year 1181 when Saint Francis was born in Assisi.

He was 24 years old when  in the year of 1205 he heard the crucifix in the little San Damiano's church saying to him :
"Francis go and repair my Home that is going to ruin".

In the year 1216 after having prayed a lot he obtained from the Lord forgiveness for all those who would have come to pray in the Porziuncola with a complete remission of every guilt. This extraordinary grace has been officialized by Pope Onorio III as "The Forgiveness of Assisi", a plenary indulgence that can be obtained from midday of 1 august to midnight of 2 august.

In the year of 1224 Francis received the stigmata of the Passion at Mount Verna.
Feeling close the end of his earthly life, Francis wanted to be brouhgt to the Porziuncola, in Santa Maria degli Angeli, where he died at the sunset of October 3rd 1226.
Two years later on July 16th he was declared Saint by Pope Gregory IX.
 


When he met Clare, he loved her like he never did anyone else before: he understood immediately that she should have been the small plant, to be cultivated for the Lord. And she wrote then in the hymn to poverty:


O holy poverty!
To all who possess and desire you,
God promises the kingdom of heaven,
and offers in an unfailing way
eternal glory and blessed life!


****
 


Francis felt veneration and affection towards the mark of the TAU.  He often recommended it during talking  and he signed it in his own hand on the letters he sent (FF 1079).

                   

The TAU is the last letter of the hebrew alphabet. It has been used with a symbolic value even from the Old Testament. In the book of the Prophet Ezekiel, when God sends His angel to mark on the forehead of God's servants this sign of salvation:

chap.9
4 and said to him, "Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark (Tau) on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it."
5 As I listened, he said to the others, "Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion.
6 Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark (Tau). Begin at my sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple.
7 Then he said to them, "Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!" So they went out and began killing throughout the city.
8 While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, "Ah, Sovereign LORD ! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?" 
 


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