Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land marks 800 years since St Francis' death

The Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America held a Transitus procession on Oct. 3 to mark the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi.

A procession of friars, priests, nuns, and laypeople walked a mile and a half through the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The march began on the lawn of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and ended at the monastery.

Franciscan friars led the group carrying two emblems of the saint. The first was a Byzantine-style San Damiano cross, which tradition says featured a vision of Jesus Christ in 1206. The second was a wooden funeral bier carrying an empty brown Franciscan habit and a white cord cincture. The procession concluded with the placement of the habit in front of the monastery church altar.