BY ANTHONY DASILVA, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
St. Francis week starts today, Oct. 1 and goes through Wednesday, October 6. According to Amanda Naujoks, associate director of St. Bonaventure University’s ministries, the event has a long and detailed tradition at the university.
“St. Bonaventure has held St. Francis week for at least 20 years,” said Naujoks.
The first event is an overnight retreat on Friday, Oct. 1, at Mt. Irenaeus. The trip to Mt. Irenaeus departs at 4PM. Br. Kevin Kriso, O.F.M. is organizing the event and can be reached for more information.
Saturday, Oct. 2 is a day of service, and there are many service opportunities available. Students can write letters to veterans from 10AM to noon in room 213 of the Reilly Center, or do trail cleanup in Hinsdale, NY, where students maintain the trail there and build a small bridge. This event lasts from 10:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. and students are encouraged to meet by the BonaResponds trailer by the baseball field.
The next service activity is Operation Warming Hearts, in which students distribute winter clothing to the children of Olean. This event takes place at 10:30 a.m. and is organized by Dr. Paula Scraba, associate professor of physical education at the university. Students can meet in the lobby of university ministries to volunteer.
Students can also volunteer at the Warming House, cleaning the kitchen and helping to assemble hygiene bags. Interested students can meet at the entrance of university ministries at 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 2. Signups are also available by emailing Alice Miller-Nation at anation@sbu.edu or by visiting room 113 in the McGinley-Carney Center for Franciscan Ministry.
Another service activity is cleaning the gravestones at the St. Bonaventure Cemetery. Students may clean gravestones alongside friars from the university. The activity begins at 10 a.m. and students will return to campus at 12:30 p.m. Once again, students may sign up for this event by emailing Miller-Nation or visiting room 113.
The final service activity available this week is the Mt. Irenaeus Fall service day, in which students will help the resident friars prepare for the winter ahead and perform tasks too difficult for the friars alone to accomplish. Students can Café La Verna at 9:30 a.m. for lunch and work projects will continue after that until 4 p.m.
Sunday, October 3rd is the Transitus of St. Francis and a small service will be held at 7 p.m. in the Doyle Chapel. The Transitis is a retelling of the day St. Francis died.
“All the saint celebrations are held on the day that they have died. Since St. Bonaventure died in the summer, we don’t really celebrate it,” said Naujoks. “That is why the ministry makes such a big deal of St Francis, because he died on Oct. 3 and we spend almost a whole week celebrating it. We celebrate Francis week to celebrate the founder of our Franciscan identity and make more people aware of St. Francis.”
Monday, Oct. 4, there is the Block Party from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. It will be located on the car path in front of Doyle Hall, with several social attractions for students. There will also be the blessing of the animals, so students are encouraged to bring pets if possible. Once an animal has been blessed, they will receive a commemorative chain that can be placed on their collar. After the block party ends, the Feast of St. Francis will be held at 5:30 p.m. St. Francis week offers students a chance to serve and celebrate the Franciscan identity of the university, amid the Transitus of St. Francis.
dasilvaf21@bonaventure.edu
