Questions along the way.

Franciscan Pilgrimage runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 26 or later. iCloud sync keeps your pilgrimage progress consistent across your devices when you're signed into the same Apple Account.

The app and its content are available in five languages from launch:

• English — the editorial source language
• Italian
• Spanish
• Portuguese
• French

The app follows your iPhone or iPad's language setting automatically. Prayers in each language are sourced from the corresponding national liturgical text (CEI for Italian, AELF for French, CNBB for Portuguese) wherever an official version exists.

Yes — fully. The journey chapters, all 37 site descriptions, the prayer collection, and the indulgence guide are bundled with the app and available without a network connection from the first launch.

The only features that require an internet connection are:

• The nearby-church finder for the Jubilee indulgence (uses your location and Apple Maps)
• Periodic content updates delivered through Apple's CloudKit

The app has four tabs:

• Home — your starting point, with the Saint of the Day, Jubilee countdown, and quick access to recent activity
• Journey — the 24-chapter biography of Francis, from Assisi to the Porziuncola
• Explore — the interactive map of 37 sacred sites, filterable by what happened there and what kind of place it is
• Jubilee — the indulgence guide, the prayer collection, the church finder, and homebound provisions

The Journey is a 24-chapter chronological narrative of St. Francis's life, from his birth in Assisi to his death at the Porziuncola in 1226. Each chapter is structured for prayer rather than lecture, with three components:

1. A short narrative passage on the period in Francis's life
2. A reflection drawn from Franciscan primary sources and modern scholarship
3. Links to the sacred sites associated with the chapter — so you can pivot from the story to the place

The journey is informed by the principal Franciscan sources and by contemporary scholarship, including:

• Thomas of Celano — First Life and Second Life of St. Francis
• St. Bonaventure — Legenda Maior
• The Fioretti — Little Flowers of St. Francis
• Modern critical biographies of St. Francis

Every chapter passed an editorial review and a fact-check against the primary sources. Where pious tradition and historical record diverge, we say so plainly.

No. The journey is built to be read in order if you wish, but each chapter stands on its own. You can read in any sequence, return to earlier chapters at any time, and skip ahead. Your pilgrimage progress tracks which chapters you have completed regardless of the order you read them in.

Chapters are tracked automatically. Opening a chapter marks it as read, and your overall journey percentage updates accordingly. There's nothing extra to tap — the goal is to keep your time with Francis prayerful, not procedural.

The Explore tab contains 37 sacred Franciscan sites across Italy, the Holy Land, and beyond, including:

• San Damiano, where the crucifix spoke to Francis
• The Porziuncola, cradle of the Order and place of Francis's death
• La Verna, the mountain of the stigmata
• Greccio, birthplace of the Christmas nativity scene
• Fonte Colombo, the "Franciscan Sinai" where the Rule was written
• The Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi — Francis's tomb
• Holy Land sites of the Franciscan Custody — Damietta, Acre, Bethlehem, and the Holy Sepulchre

Each site is tagged on three independent axes so you can filter the map down to what you came for:

• What happened there — birthplace, conversion, vision, stigmata, foundation, death, prayer, hermitage, and so on. Many sites carry more than one tag.
• What kind of place it is — basilica, hermitage, sanctuary, friary, and similar.
• Which Franciscan charism it embodies — creation, peace, mission, poverty.

Combine filters to surface, for example, only places of prayer in the Rieti Valley, or every site connected to the stigmata.

Many Franciscan sites bear more than one historical role. The Porziuncola, for example, is both the foundation of the Order and the place of Francis's death — and it remains a primary prayer destination today. The multi-tag schema reflects that layered history rather than forcing a single label.

Tap any site on the Explore map or in the list to see its full description, photo gallery, and related chapters in the journey. From a journey chapter, each linked site has a View on Map button that jumps to the Explore tab and zooms to the exact location. From there you can hand off to Apple Maps for directions.

The Indulgence Guide in the Jubilee tab walks you through each step with the relevant prayers and a checklist you can mark off:

1. Pilgrimage Visit — Visit any Franciscan conventual church, or place of worship named after St. Francis or connected to him, anywhere in the world.
2. Meditation and Prayer — Spend time reflecting on St. Francis's example, his universal love, and his commitment to peace.
3. Required Prayers — Pray the Our Father, recite the Creed, and offer invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clare, and the saints of the Franciscan family, for the intentions of Pope Leo XIV.
4. Detachment from Sin — Be free from all attachment to sin, even venial.
5. Sacramental Confession — Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation within a reasonable period before or after the pilgrimage.
6. Holy Communion — Receive the Eucharist, ideally on the day of the pilgrimage.

The church finder shows designated Franciscan jubilee churches on a map and in a list, sorted by distance from your current location. Tap any church to see its address, hours where available, and a phone number you can tap to call.

The finder asks for permission to use your location the first time you open it. Your location is used only on your device to calculate distances — it is never sent to If Then Dev or any third party.

Yes. The Apostolic Penitentiary specifically provides for those who cannot make a pilgrimage in person — the elderly, the sick, the homebound, prisoners, those caring for the infirm, and cloistered religious. These provisions are explained in the Homebound Provisions section of the Jubilee tab, with the prayers and conditions appropriate to each category.

Yes. The decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary explicitly provides that this plenary indulgence is "also applicable in the form of suffrage for the souls in Purgatory." When you complete the conditions of the indulgence, you may offer its fruits for a deceased loved one — a corporal work of mercy long honored in the Church. The For the Faithful Departed note in the Jubilee tab summarizes this provision.

The prayer collection in the Jubilee tab includes the prayers associated with the Jubilee indulgence and central Franciscan devotional texts, such as:

• The Canticle of Brother Sun — Francis's poem to creation, presented in the original Umbrian Italian alongside an English rendering
• The Prayer of St. Francis ("Lord, make me an instrument of your peace")
• The Our Father, the Nicene Creed, and the Apostles' Creed
• Invocation to St. Francis and St. Clare
• Invocation to the Blessed Virgin Mary
• The Franciscan Crown Rosary

Each prayer is available in all five supported languages. Where an official liturgical text exists in a given language (CEI for Italian, AELF for French, CNBB for Portuguese), it is used verbatim.

The Home tab shows a Franciscan saint or blessed for every day of the year, drawn from the Franciscan martyrology. The collection includes 366 entries (one for each day, including February 29 for leap years) covering the saints, blesseds, and beati of the Franciscan family — friars, Poor Clares, lay tertiaries, and martyrs.

On principal Franciscan feast days — including the Stigmata (September 17), the Transitus (October 3), the Feast of St. Francis (October 4), the Feast of St. Clare of Assisi (August 11), and Our Lady of the Angels at the Porziuncola (August 2) — a banner appears on the Home tab inviting you to the corresponding chapter, site, or prayer. You can dismiss the banner for the current feast; it reappears for the next feast.

Your pilgrimage progress reflects two things:

• Journey progress — the percentage of the 24 chapters you have marked complete
• Sites visited — the number of unique sacred sites you have marked as visited

The "Your Pilgrimage" denominator counts unique sites, not link rows, so a site connected to multiple chapters still counts once.

Yes. Visited sites, chapter completions, journey progress, and indulgence step completions sync via your private iCloud account when iCloud is enabled. Make sure you're signed into the same Apple Account on every device.

Sync uses Apple's CloudKit private database. Your progress data is stored in your personal iCloud container and is never accessible to If Then Dev or any third party.

Yes. Site detail pages and journey progress include a share button that produces a rendered card you can post to social media, send by message, or save to Files. Sharing is initiated by you on your device; nothing is sent automatically.

Yes. Franciscan Pilgrimage offers Home Screen widgets that surface the Saint of the Day, a daily prayer, and a special Jubilee Year of Saint Francis countdown.

To add a widget:

1. Long-press an empty area on your Home Screen until the icons jiggle.
2. Tap the + button.
3. Search for "Franciscan Pilgrimage".
4. Choose your preferred size and tap Add Widget.

Yes — fully and forever. Every chapter, every site, every prayer, and the Jubilee features are free to use. No subscription is required. There are no ads, no tracking, and no third-party analytics.

Nothing is sent to If Then Dev. Your progress data is stored on your device and optionally in your private iCloud account. Location, when granted, is used on your device only to find nearby churches and is not transmitted off the device. The full details are in our Privacy Policy.

The tip jar is an optional way to support the continued development of the app. Open Settings in the app and tap Support This Ministry to see the available tip amounts. Payments are handled by Apple through the App Store; If Then Dev never sees your payment information.

Tips are one-time, consumable in-app purchases. They are non-refundable except as required by applicable law or Apple's refund policy.

Yes. The app includes alternate icons reflecting Franciscan imagery. To switch, open Settings in the app, tap App Icon, and pick the one that suits you.

Location access requires your permission. To grant it:

1. Open the iOS Settings app.
2. Scroll to and tap Franciscan Pilgrimage.
3. Tap Location and choose While Using the App.

You can also use the church finder without location: an empty-state prompt lets you grant access or continue without it (the list won't be sorted by distance).

• Confirm that both devices are signed into the same Apple Account.
• Open iOS Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud and ensure iCloud is enabled for Franciscan Pilgrimage.
• Make sure both devices have an internet connection.
• Force-quit and reopen the app on the device that's behind.

iCloud sync is asynchronous and may take a few minutes to propagate after a change.

We take theological and historical accuracy seriously. If you spot a mistake — in a date, a name, a translation, an attribution, a prayer — please tell us. We read every message and correct verified errors in the next content release.

Delete the app from your Home Screen as you would any other iOS app. Local data is removed with the app. iCloud-synced progress can be removed from iOS Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Franciscan Pilgrimage.