Photo: Dorothée QUENNESSON By Fr. Richard Heilman | Roman Catholic Man Saint Francis of Assisi observed an annual ‘Lent of Saint Michael’, from the Feast of the Assumption of Mary (August 15) to the Feast of Saint Michael The Archangel (September 29). Francis had a special rapport with Mary and Michael from the early days of his conversion. He went to them often, for comfort and consolation, when things got rough (and things are pretty rough right now). It was on one of these 40 day solitary retreats when, through meditating on the Passion of our Lord, Francis received the sacred stigmata, imprints of Jesus’ five wounds on his body. *During these 40 Days, we are asking everyone to offer some kind of fasting/abstinence and/or penance, and to pray the daily prayers of the Auxilium Christianorum . Specifically, we are asking for protection and for reparation, particularly for the sins in our Church and in our culture. Prayers to be said every day: V. Our help is in the name of the Lor