Hawaii Catholic Herald
To celebrate the Transitus, the death date of St. Francis of Assisi on Oct. 3, hundreds of people joined a eucharistic procession behind Bishop Michael T.T. Castori, SJ, and several priests and deacons who took turns carrying the monstrance.
More than 100 people braved hot, sunny conditions Oct. 3 to commemorate the “Transitus” of St. Francis of Assisi — his death 800 years ago, framed as his “passing” from life on earth to life with God — with a Eucharistic procession that stretched from the Ala Moana area to Honolulu’s Kalihi-Palama district, culminating with a final blessing at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.
Marking another key moment in the jubilee year of St. Francis, the faithful were led from Sts. Peter and Paul Church by Bishop Michael T.T. Castori, SJ, and several priests and deacons who took turns carrying the monstrance bearing the Blessed Sacrament along the 3.2-mile route.
Members of the Knights of Columbus walked ahead of the procession, which also included altar servers, masters of ceremony and candle bearers — all in full uniform or liturgical garb. The scent of incense billowed from a metal vessel known as a thurible carried by an altar server.
Others who provided assistance and security during the procession included members of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem and Honolulu Police Department officers.
Participants prayed the rosary during the walk, which led them past Planned Parenthood — where Bishop Castori gave a blessing — and the Father Damien de Veuster statue in front of the state Capitol.
The day started with Mass at Sts. Peter and Paul Church. Many faithful who were present did not walk to the co-cathedral, but rather met the procession when it arrived several hours later.
Bishop Castori said in his homily there was tremendous growth in the Church through the work and charism of St. Francis.
“St. Francis of Assisi is a saint so venerated and beloved throughout the world for his embrace of poverty, his embrace of the Lord,” the bishop said. “His whole charism … touched very deeply, the life of the church here in the Diocese of Honolulu.”
At the co-cathedral, Sister Alicia Damien Lau of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, who serves in the Hansen’s disease settlement in Kalaupapa, Molokai, spoke about how Franciscan values influenced St. Damien and St. Marianne Cope as they ministered to patient-residents on the isolated peninsula.
Sister Lau recounted St. Francis’ own encounter with someone who had Hansen’s disease (then called leprosy), realizing it was “Christ himself.”
St. Francis treated everyone as family — something that St. Damien and St. Marianne also did in Kalaupapa, Sister Lau added.
After her talk, several priests heard confessions before the procession’s arrival at the co-cathedral around 11:30 a.m. The monstrance was brought to the altar by Bishop Castori, who along with the rest of the faithful kneeled before the Eucharist and prayed before the final blessing.
Meanwhile Oct. 3, several Franciscan sisters joined Capuchin Franciscan Father Mike Dalton and two Secular Franciscan Order fraternities — the St. Marianne Cope Fraternity and the St. Clare of Assisi Fraternity — at St. Andrew Kim Taegon Oratory in Honolulu for a prayer service also marking St. Francis’ Transitus.
In a newsletter, Sister Davilyn Ah Chick wrote that the ceremony “was very special and uniquely universal, because the reflections were done in both English and Korean.” (The St. Clare fraternity primarily comprises Korean-speaking members, and Father Dalton is its spiritual adviser.)
