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8 Simple Ways to Celebrate The Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi

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Icon of St. Francis of Assisi drawn with a white outline surrounded by illustrations of birds, flowers, and leaves with a dark background.

October 4th is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi.

As the patron saint of Italy, ecology, animals, and archaeologists, St. Francis of Assisi is remembered as a kind and gentle man who loved animals, nature, and people. He inspired many to embrace the wonder and beauty of all things and beings created by God as he advocated for the equality of the more-than-human world and humanity.

There are many fun ways to celebrate this holy day—with perhaps the most adorable being a Blessing of the Pets worship service. So, we tried our best to narrow it down. Here is a list of eight simple ways for humans of all ages to connect with nature and celebrate the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi.

1. Create a zoo featuring your favorite animals

Use simple craft materials, play dough, or blocks. As you build and create, explore the different biomes your animals live in and talk about what things they need to thrive.

Two children sitting at a table in a library reading a book. One child points at a picture in the book, both children look engaged with what they are reading.

2. Visit your local library to learn more about animals you think are weird, creepy, or gross

How does learning more about them change the way you feel towards them?

3. Learn about endangered species

Look up the list of endangered species. Are you surprised to see any animals on this list? How does reading through this list make you feel? 

4. Remember species that have gone extinct

Light a candle or hold a moment of silence for species that have gone extinct. What role did humans play in their extinction?

Three children sitting in grass. Two children cuddle a puppy with short black fur while one child cuddles a kitten with fluffy gray fur.

5. Show your pets or stuffed animals they are loved

Find special ways like extra cuddles, playtime, or treats. For pets who have died, remember them. Say their name, look at pictures, and tell stories.

6. Spend time outside

Make a list of creatures you notice, or draw the nature patterns you see.

7. Make a nature-friendly craft

Check out these window decals that help migrating birds stay safe.

A warm, vibrant mosaic of St. Francis holding a scroll in one hand and a bird in the other. He stands between a bush full of birds on one side and a sheep and wolf on the other. The moon is near his head on his right and the sun is near his head on his left.

8. Read, listen to, or sing along with some of the nature-inspired prayers, poems, and songs St. Francis wrote.

Two examples are The Canticle of Creatures or All Creatures of Our God and King (these are two of my favorite versions: Rain for Roots, Gungor).

Pentecost Coloring Page: Get Ready for Pentecost

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Pentecost Coloring Page

Pentecost is coming, and we wanted to help churches and families get ready to celebrate the birthday of the Church by providing a free Pentecost Coloring Page.

Pentecost Flame Coloring PageFree Coloring Page to Celebrate the Church’s Birthday

Following up on the popularity of our free downloadable Palm Frond Coloring Page, we’d like to offer a downloadable Holy Spirit coloring page that you could send out to your church or post on your church’s website. Or maybe you just want to download a copy for your family to use to help celebrate Pentecost. Download it, email it to friends and families, folks in your congregation, and share the link on social media! If you post photos on social media, make sure to either use the hashtag #illustratedministry or tag us (we’re @illustratedmin on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest).

Ready to Download Your Coloring Page?

We’ll send you the link to download your Pentecost Coloring Page after you click here. Included in your download will be the B&W coloring page, as well as a fun, colored-version that you can print out and use to decorate for your live-streaming worship!

If you have issues getting the pop-up form to show up, make sure you have disabled any pop-up blockers.

Other Pentecost Coloring Pages & Posters

If you are looking for a larger project to work on with your church, community, or family, you might also consider purchasing one of our Pentecost coloring pages and posters. View your options and learn more by clicking below:

Alleluia Poster: Get Ready for Easter

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Alleluia Easter Poster

Ready to Download Your Alleluia Poster?

We’ve put the files together in a ZIP file, and we’ll send you the link when you click here to download your Alleluia Poster.

Originally created at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, this continues to be a beautiful and fun poster to create for your home or your church.

Alleluia Poster

Alleluia Poster for Families
Note: We do not include a pre-colored version of the file – the files come as B&W PDFs.

We designed this Alleluia poster illustration so that it could be colored and displayed in homes around the world. And we want you to have it for FREE!

We hope our Alleluia Poster will be one more way you can add some color and beauty to your home and your community.

Alleluia Posters

This poster is designed in our new Mosaic Poster Tiles format and comes formatted for both US Letter (8.5×11) and A4 paper. Here are some additional details:

  • Your download of the ZIP file will include two versions of the poster: a US Letter (8.5×11) file and an A4 file.
  • US Letter (8.5×11): You will receive a small version that fits on one 8.5×11 sheet of paper and the poster version (which requires four sheets of paper and measures 20.39″x14.67″ when you’ve assembled and taped together).
  • A4: You will receive a small version that fits on one A4 sheet of paper and the poster version (which requires six sheets of paper and measures 22.44″x16.14″ when assembled and taped together).

Below you can see some photos that give you an example of what it will look like when you’ve printed it, colored it, and assembled the poster tiles.

Happy Easter!

Download it, email it to friends and families in your congregation, and share the link on social media! We hope you’ll share photos of these Alleluia Posters, and if you post them on social media, make sure to either use the hashtag #illustratedministry or tag us (we’re @illustratedmin on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest).

Ready to Download Your Alleluia Poster?

We’ve put the files together in a ZIP file, and we’ll send you the link when you click here to download your Alleluia Poster.

Alleluia Download Poster