St Francis of Assisi - Part 9 - The Whole World is a Friary

By David Torkington -
When St Francis of Assisi had rebuilt a tumbledown little church given to him by the Benedictines he called it St Mary of the Angels. It was here, over 800 years ago that he heard God speaking to him through the Gospels whilst attending Mass. The message was simple – now your time living as a Hermit is over, you and your disciples must go out preaching the Gospel to all, as Jesus had done with his disciples. He so loved this little church, the Portziuncula, that he said it would always be the hub and the home of his Franciscan Family forever. When the first friars landed in America they immediately built a church and called it after that little church that St Francis had built with his own hands. Naturally they called it after their spiritual home, St Mary of the Angels or in the Spanish language that they spoke: - Santa Maria de los Ángeles. The town that grew up around it took the same name, until it came to be known simply as Los Angeles as it is still known today.   read on....

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