Today, the Franciscan family keeps the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels!

This is the patronal title of the Blessed Virgin under which St. Francis placed all who look to him as a spiritual father. St. Francis had great devotion to Our Lady under this title due to his repairing of the little chapel of Our Lady of the Angels, the “Portiuncula” (little portion) in the woods outside Assisi. The chapel became—and remains to this day—a place of prayer and meditation.

It is the ”Portiuncula” after which Little Portion Hermitage is named.

Two prayers in honor of Our Lady by St. Francis follow.

O holy Mother, sweet and fair to see, for us beseech the King, your dearest Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to death for us delivered: that in his pitying clemency, and by virtue of his most holy incarnation and bitter death, he may pardon our sins. Amen

Holy Virgin Mary, among all the women of the world, there is none like you. You are the daughter and handmaid of the most high King, Father of heaven. You are the mother of our most holy Lord Jesus Christ. You are the bride of the Holy Spirit. Pray for us, with St. Michael the archangel, and all the powers of heaven and all the saints, to your most holy and beloved Son, our Lord and Master. Amen