Western Christians will be commemorating the 790th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi on his feast day on October 4th. My featured American print this week from the Sacred Art Pilgrim collection is a monotype of Francis reflecting on his mortality by New Mexican Saint-Maker Michael Vargas. This most popular of saints is usually depicted communing with nature, but his famous Canticle of the Creatures not only rejoices in Brother Sun and Sister Moon but also welcomes Sister Death. This memento mori theme—from the Latin, “remember you must die”—is an important motif in images of St. Francis from the saint-makers of the American Southwest, who frequently present him holding a skull in his hand or, in this case, wandering through a graveyard. This new image of a penitential Francis joins others of the saint in the gallery of the Michael Vargas profile page in the Sacred Artist section. (John Kohan)