While celebrating Transitus this year, the students at Cardinal Stritch University will continue to remember St. Francis of Assisi, according to a university news release.

The university was founded upon the values of St. Francis, who was the founder of the Franciscan tradition. 

Emily Czaplewski wrote that many Catholic institutions also celebrate the day of feast for their patron saint, but Transitus is the second celebration in addition to the feast day for St. Francis, which is typically celebrated Oct. 3, which is one day before his traditional feast day.

"The Transitus, from the Latin word for passage or crossing, commemorates the completion of St. Francis’ earthly life, and his passage through death into eternal life," Czaplewski wrote in the post. "At first glance, it may seem odd to reflect on death, particularly in our present world. Yet, for Franciscans, St. Francis’ teachings — those he spoke and those he embodied through his actions — are more than just a set of inspirational ideas."

Czaplewski writes that St. Francis' teachings are an example of living well and serving God, as well as how to suffer with joy.

"By giving up a life of ease and riches for one of radical simplicity and poverty, St. Francis’ humble life pointed to his steadfast hope of eternity with his Creator, and his belief that the life to come would fulfill him in the ways that his worldly success never did," Czaplewski wrote. "He believed that we were made for heaven — eternal union with God. With this view in mind, he saw death not as something to be feared, but as something to be welcomed at its appointed time, because it was the transition into the next life. In his well-loved Canticle of the Creatures, he writes of embracing Sister Death, and the Transitus reflects on how he lived his life in preparation for that embrace."

Czaplewski said to take a moment and remember, like St. Francis did, that God comes first and any suffering that comes that isn't understood could be due to something greater.