Saint Francis of Assisi (†1226) was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher who founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women's Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis, and the Custody of the Holy Land. According to Christian tradition, in 1224, he received the stigmata during the apparition of a Seraphic angel in religious ecstasy, which would make him the first person in Christian tradition to bear the wounds of Christ's Passion. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history. Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228. Along with Catherine of Siena, he was designated patron saint of Italy. He later became associated with patronage of animals and the natural environment, and it became customary for churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on or near his feast day of 4 October.
Saint Margaret of Cortona, T.O.S.F., (†1297) was an Italian penitent of the Third Order of St. Francis who was canonized in 1728. She is the patron saint of the falsely accused, hoboes, homeless, insane, orphaned, mentally ill, midwives, penitents, single mothers, reformed prostitutes, stepchildren, and tramps. Her body, found to be incorrupt even after 400 years, is preserved in a silver casket inside the church rebuilt in Cortona in her honor. Margaret was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII on 16 May 1728 and is honored with a Lesser Feast on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on 22 February.
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