800th anniversary of the Transitus of Saint Francis

To mark the 800th anniversary of the Transitus of Saint Francis—and in preparation for a fruitful celebration of that event—this study offers an overview of how Thomas of Celano, the saint’s first biographer, portrays this culminating moment in the life of the Poverello across four works: the Vita beati Francisci (1229), the Legenda ad usum chori (1230), the Vita beati patris nostri Francisci (or Vita brevior, pre-1239), and the Memoriale in desiderio animae (1247).