Anniversay of the Founding
of the Community in 1982

The first Saturday of October

To honor St. Francis of Assisi whose feast day is October 4 and who is the Patron Saint of ecology, and after whom Agape’s main house is named, this annual event is connected to Gandhi’s birthday, October 2 and Therese of Lisieux, October 1. All of these saints represent the prayer, poverty and witness in the world, which are Agape’s founding principles.


In this photo, Arun Gandhi is third from left; second from left is a translator from Iraq, and Sabah Kadar, next to Gandhi , who lost his wife when American troops fired at them; his son, age 4 was grievously wounded and has undergone hundreds of operations at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

Past St. Francis Day — Agape Anniversary Celebrations have included Daniel Berrigan SJ, Sr. Merriam Therese MacGillis, Vincent Harding, David Dellinger, The Hibakusha (A bomb survivors of Hiroshima); a interfaith gathering after 911, including Rabbi Sheila Weinberg, Muslim community members, Episcopal priest Fr. Philip Jacobs, monks of the Buddhist Peace Pagoda in Leverett; 20th Anniversary at Holy Cross and Agape with Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, MI; 25th Anniversary with grandson of Mahatma Gandhi; 26th Anniversary with inter-racial, multi-ethnic panel on an election year.