Photo by Jackie Holcombe

JONESBORO—It was a homecoming for Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., as he returned to the parish he once led as pastor to celebrate the Transitus Mass of St. Francis of Assisi.

Archbishop Hartmayer joined fellow Franciscan priests at St. Philip Benizi Church in Jonesboro to celebrate the archdiocesan Mass, commemorating the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis and his journey to the next life.

Following the Mass for St. Francis, Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer greets Jack Roche, who was a longtime musician at St. Philip Benizi Church. The archbishop served as pastor for several years at the Jonesboro church where he is still affectionately called “Father Greg.” Photo by Jackie Holcombe

At the Oct. 4 Mass, the archbishop noted that Francis remains remarkably and powerfully present all these centuries later.

“The words he spoke still echo. The example he gave still challenges. The charism he received still animates the Church,” said the archbishop in his homily.

Archbishop Hartmayer shared that Francis had asked his brothers to lay him on the bare ground as he neared death. He was 44, nearly blind and bore the wounds of the crucified Christ.

“He did not shrink from death. He sang, and he greeted her as one greets a long-awaited guest,” said the archbishop.

The answer to how Francis was able to receive such a grace is found in the Gospel, where grace is received by the little ones, not the wise and learned.

“Francis had dreamed of glory as a knight; God made him little instead. And he found the yoke of Christ easy and its burden light,” said the archbishop.

He shared Francis’ testament in which he wrote, “When I was in sin, it seemed very bitter to me to see lepers. And the Lord himself led me among them, and I showed mercy to them. And when I left them, what had seemed bitter to me was turned into sweetness of soul and body.”

The yoke that once looked crushing set him free, said Archbishop Hartmayer of the man who founded the Franciscan order.

Francis was not sentimental about death but named it plainly in his “Canticle of Creatures.” The real danger, wrote St. Francis, is the second death of a soul that turned away from God.

“Our culture hides death and avoids even the word, and because we do not look at death, we often do not know how to live. Francis looked at it every day, and so he knew what mattered,” the archbishop told those gathered for Mass.

Amarachi, Arinze and Akunna Ohaya were the altar servers for the Mass celebrating the Transitus of St. Francis on Oct. 4 at Jonesboro’s St. Philip Benizi Church. Photo by Jackie Holcombe

The archbishop suggested five ways to live Francis’ legacy: repairing the house where you live whether it’s a failed relationship or a parish that needs helping hands; moving toward the leper who might be a difficult neighbor or homeless man on the street; speaking peace, treating creation as family and to make friends with “Sister Death” by examining one’s conscience.

“A Christian who has made friends with death is free to live without fear,” he said.

Pope Leo XIV proclaimed the Year of St. Francis. The jubilee began on Saturday, Jan. 10, and will conclude on Sunday, January 10, 2027.

Christians were encouraged to become models of holiness and constant witnesses of peace for the Church and the world.

For more information on Atlanta’s designated pilgrim churches for the Year of St. Francis, visit archatl.com/faith-life/jubilee-year.