By Anna Bonavita
Today, on April 9, 2026, a group of Esperienza pilgrims began a multi-day hike on The Way of St. Francis. They began in the center of Rimini on the Adriatic coast and will move westward to arrive in La Verna, a remote sanctuary in the center of the Apennines. The isolated mountain of La Verna was given as a gift to Saint Francis of Assisi in May 1213 by Count Orlando Cattani of Chiusi in Casentino.
Impressed by his preaching, the Count donated the rocky, forested mountain as a secluded place for prayer and contemplation, which later became the site where Francis received the stigmata in 1224. He died two years later in 1226.
Before his death, Saint Francis wrote “Canticle of the Sun,” a joyous song embracing and worshiping every element of nature, while he himself was blind and ill. (It is one of the first poems written in vernacular Italian.)
Before his death, Saint Francis brought back to life Jesus’ ideals of poverty, simplicity, and love of neighbor and enemy alike.
This image of Saint Francis shows his compassion on the even the most violent of people.
Before his death, Saint Francis denounced war, having witnessed it first hand, and he prayed for peace.
I think of him daily and imagine him lovingly calling our society to turn from aggression and brutality, spreading his conviction that we are all “brothers and sisters,” as we live together on a tiny planet covered with deepening scars and conflicts.
We are presently reminded every day of the fragility of peace, yet we continue to seek it. And today, 800 years after Saint Francis' death, we need him more than ever to remind us of a possibility of human life which is not dominated by fear, not focused on power or endless accumulation.
Instead, Saint Francis guides us toward a different, more conscious way of life - protecting all sentient life forms, sharing with the underprivileged, caring for the most vulnerable, savoring beauty wherever we find it, and building communities in peace. Perhaps too much of a dream? Recent days have proved we desperately need it.
Walking in the Way of Saint Francis has the power to offer a new perspective and hope, and it has for many of our pilgrims, including this traveler in the spring of 2025. I wish our current group a transformative journey full of small miracles. Pace e Bene!*
*“Pace e Bene” (Peace and All Good) is the greeting St. Francis introduced, which is still used today in his order.
