Free Republic

The Portiuncula (small portion) refers to the land in Assisi, Italy, that belonged to the Benedictines. On this land  was an old church dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God but abandoned. The great St. Francis had great devotion to the queen of the world and when he saw that the church was deserted, he began to live there constantly and repair it.  He heard that the angels often visited it, so that it was called St. Mary of the Angels. The Benedictines wanted to give Francis the church but in order to remain faithful to Lady Poverty, Francis rented it from them...

Assisi, Aug. 04, 2006 (CNA) - This Sunday Catholics can obtain the Portiuncula Indulgence by visiting any Franciscan parish or chapel around the world. In the summer of 1216 while praying in the Portiuncula chapel outside of Assisi, St. Francis was inspired to travel to Rome and ask the Pope for an unheard-of privilege: the granting of a plenary indulgence. Pope Honorius III granted the indulgence as a sign of the greatness of God’s love for humanity.  August 2nd was established as the date to receive the “Great Pardon of Assisi.”  Eventually, the Church modified the conditions and said the...

August 2, 2003Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Psalm: Saturday 33 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Gospel Reading ILev 25:1, 8-17 The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,"Seven weeks of years shall you count–seven times seven years–so that the seven cycles amount to forty-nine years.Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, let the trumpet resound;on this, the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast shall re-echo throughout your land.This fiftieth year you shall make sacredby proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants.It shall be a jubilee for you,when every one of you shall return to...