The Fifth Reflection on the Apotheosis of Saint Francis in the Church of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, Valletta

Bless the Lord, spirits and souls of the righteous,
praise him and exalt him above all for ever.
Bless the Lord, saints and humble in heart,
praise him and exalt him above all for ever.

Daniel 3:86–87

On the right-hand side of the painting, parallel to Saint Francis, we find a number of Franciscan saints, among them Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Bonaventure, Saint Clare, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (Princess of the Kingdom of Hungary and patroness of the Franciscan Tertiaries), and Saint Louis IX (King of France and patron of the Franciscan Tertiaries). Together, they represent the three Franciscan Orders: the male, the female, and the secular.

We find this same concept in the fresco depicting the vow of chastity, painted on the ceiling above the altar of the Lower Basilica in Assisi. In the left-hand corner, the three Orders are represented, with the figure of the Franciscan tertiary possibly being a depiction of Dante Alighieri.

These saints are accompanied by Pope Gregory IX (Ugolino di Conti), who in 1220, at the personal request of Saint Francis, was appointed by Pope Honorius III as Cardinal Protector of the Franciscan Order. Thus, although all of them in some way embraced Franciscan spirituality, we can also see here a representation of the variety of vocations within the Church, all of which, each in its own way, lead towards holiness.

Among these saints, we also find a self-portrait of Calì, depicted as a cardinal. The artist painted this work during the final phase of his illustrious career, when he was sixty-one. Although he still had many years ahead of him—he died at the age of eighty-four—as he began to recognise that he had fewer years left to live than he had already lived, perhaps this self-portrait expresses the artist’s desire that he too might one day be counted among the saints, after having adorned so many churches with works that open a contemplative window onto heaven.

How does the way you live your vocation open a window onto heaven, while at the same time allowing the light of heaven to illuminate the world? Is the way you live the charism with which God has entrusted you becoming a sign of his presence on earth, while at the same time giving others a foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven?