Saint Francis was born in 1181 at Assisi, Umbria, Italy as Francis Bernardone. He was the Founder of the Franciscans. In September 1224, Francis received the stigmata. He died on October 4, 1226 at Portiuncula, Italy. He was Canonized a Saint in 1228 by Pope Gregory IX. Saint Francis is the patron Saint for: animals, Assisi Italy, against dying alone, against fire.
This chaplet is composed of 17 tiger eye beads representing the love St. Francis had for animals, a center piece of the St. Francis, a medal of St. Francis and the Wolf, and a Crucifix. It was created from the Novena of Saint Francis of Assisi, into a chaplet designed by J.S. Kotchka and is used here with permission from the artisan.
Begin by kissing The Crucifix and making the sign of the cross.
On bead one pray:
Glorious Saint Francis, who voluntarily renounced all the comforts and riches of your home to follow more perfectly the life of poverty and abnegation of Jesus Christ: obtain for us, we pray, a generous contempt of all things in this world, that we may secure the true and eternal things of heaven.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
On bead two pray:
O glorious Saint Francis, who during the whole course of your life continually wept over the passion of the Redeemer, and labored most zealously for the salvation of souls: obtain for us, we pray, the grace of weeping continually over those sins by which we have crucified afresh Our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may attain to be of the number of those who shall eternally bless His supreme mercy.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
On the center piece pray:
O glorious Saint Francis, who, loving above all things suffering and the cross, merited to bear in your body the miraculous stigmata, by which you became a living image of Jesus Christ crucified: obtain for us, we pray, the grace to bear in our bodies the mortifications of Christ, that we may merit one day to receive the consolations which are infallibly promised to all those who now weep.
"If we be dead with Christ Jesus, we shall live also with Him," says the Apostle; "if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." (2nd Timothy 2.11-12)
Pray for us, Saint Francis, that we may obtain the graces and favors we ask for in this novena; pray for us, especially, that we may obtain the grace of perseverance; of a holy death and a happy eternity.
On the five sets of three pray
1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Glory Be
Conclude the chaplet by saying the Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen
Additional prayer may be said on the medal of St. Francis and the Wolf
Prayer For Animals
God Our Heavenly Father, You created the world to serve humanity's needs and to lead them to You. By our own fault we have lost the beautiful relationship which we once had with all your creation. Help us to see that by restoring our relationship with You we will also restore it with all Your creation. Give us the grace to see all animals as gifts from You and to treat them with respect for they are Your creation. We pray for all animals who are suffering as a result of our neglect. May the order You originally established be once again restored to the whole world through the intercession of the Glorious Virgin Mary, the prayers of St. Francis and the merits of Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with You now and forever. Amen.
Saint Francis of Assisi