The Season of Creation is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through celebration, conversion, and commitment together. The season starts 1 September, the Day of Prayer for Creation, and ends 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.

Pope Leo

Pope Leo said: “The Ist September is the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. Ten years ago, in harmony with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Pope Francis established this Day for the Catholic Church. This is more important and urgent than ever, and this year’s theme is Seeds of Peace and Hope. In a world of challenges and division, marked by war and climate change, how can we as people of faith create and work towards peace with creation?

“Together with all Christians, we celebrate it throughout this Season of Creation, which lasts until 4 October, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. In the spirit of the Canticle of the Creatures, which he composed 800 years ago, we praise God and renew our commitment not to ruin his gift but to care for our common home.”

The Song of Reconciliation

The leaders of the Franciscan Friars have issued a letter to mark the eight centenary of the Canticle, Song of Reconciliation. They write:

With this letter, we wish to share with you our joy for the eighth centenary of the Canticle of the Creatures , a date we cannot ignore. This anniversary fits perfectly into the sequence of centenaries that make up the single Franciscan Centenary, from Fonte Colombo to Greccio, La Verna, San Damiano, and finally to Santa Maria degli Angeli and his return to the Father.

Between the pain and love of La Verna, where Francis received the Stigmata, and his encounter with "Sister Death," we find this song of praise and reconciliation that sums up Francis's view of God and the world, of creatures and human beings, of himself and the Almighty. The Canticle is a synthesis of Francis's vision of reality, and together we want to sing it again with joy of spirit!

In 2025, the Holy Year and the Year of the Canticle of the Creatures, we wish to rediscover together the depth of this prayer that has spanned the centuries and still speaks to the heart of humanity and the Church today.

The Canticle, composed gradually by Francis between 1225 and 1226, is not merely a poetic text, but the testimony of a comprehensive vision of God the Creator, of creation, of universal brotherhood, and of integral ecology—themes that Pope Francis forcefully revisited in his encyclical Laudato si' ...

Full text of letter:  www.ofm.org

Resources

Deepen your Season of Creation experience by taking advantage of the free resources offered on the Vatican Season of Creation website. Your event will have a bigger impact if the community is engaged and inspired.

www.seasonofcreation.org/resources/