Patronal feast of the Province of Our Lady of the Angels in Poland

On the 3rd August 2026, the day after the Solemnity of Our Lady of the Angels of the Portiuncula, the friars of the Province of Our Lady of the Angels in Poland gathered at the friary of Wieliczka to celebrate the traditional Feast of the Province. 

The meeting was attended by over sixty friars from the fraternities of Poland and from the Province’s presence in Italy, Germany and Australia. After the greeting of the Minister Provincial, Br. Krzysztof Bobak OFM, the formative moment was entrusted to Br. Wiesław Block OFMCap, professor at the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome,  who gave a conference on the theme: The Gospel of the Last Moments of St. Francis of Assisi: Christ Washing the Feet of the Apostles. 

During the meeting, the friars who celebrate their Jubilees of religious profession were remembered, and the decrees of appointment to the Guardians were delivered after the Chapter Congress. 

On the occasion of the VIII Centenary of the birth into heaven of St. Francis of Assisi, the participants received the Polish edition of the work of Br. Thaddée Matura OFM At the Sources of the Franciscan Charism. Reading of the Writings of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi, published by Br. Wacław Michalczyk OFM. 

The highlight of the day was the renewal of religious profession at the Porziuncola in Wieliczka, followed by a solemn Mass. 

At the end of Mass, an ancient gesture was renewed that recalls the tradition dating back to St. Francis. The Minister Provincial offered the Benedictines a basket of fish, in memory of the gift of the Porziuncola made by the Benedictine monks to St. Francis. As a sign of mutual communion, the Abbot gave the Friars Minor the oil destined for the lamp of the Blessed Sacrament, a symbol of the light of faith and the spiritual bond that has united Benedictines and Franciscans for centuries. 

The Feast of the Province was a time of fraternity, prayer, and thanksgiving for the gift of the Franciscan vocation.