Fr Alban McCoy is a Conventual Franciscan, who was Catholic Chaplain at the University of Cambridge from 1998-2013. He is now Fellow Emeritus and Praelector of St Edmund’s College.
Fr Alban came to Gidea Park on 2nd May 2026 in order to speak about the ‘Legacy of St Francis’, in the 800th anniversary year of the death of St Francis in 2026.
St Francis has a unique place in history and in people’s memories. There has never been an attempt to debunk his reputation or denigrate him. He is indeed unique.
Francis was a catalyst for change in his own day and remains so today. He refocussed our attention on the humanity of Christ. He is known for his personal poverty, and his love for creation. He is overwhelmed by God’s goodness. He has a profound reverence for the holy Eucharist, wherein friendship with God and one another is made explicit.
He treasured his friendships, with Clare, Leo, and Lady Jacoba, who was summoned to his deathbed to ‘bring some of your wonderful cakes’. He invented the crib as pointing to the humility of Christ’s poverty. It was Clare alone who upheld his ideals of poverty after Francis’ death.
In his Canticle of the Creatures Francis praises God for all creatures who are brothers and sisters. He even welcomes ‘sister death’. His embrace of the leper radically changed his life. He visited sultan al-Kamil in Egypt while the Church fought the fifth Crusade. Francis has no enemies. Pope Francis drew on his legacy to face our contemporary problems by cherishing creation and all our brothers and sisters.