St Francis of Assisi, who based the Franciscan order, is certainly one of Catholicism’s maximum respected saints. After Christ and the Virgin Mary, he’s probably the most depicted determine inside Catholic artwork, literature and picture.
The consumer saint of our surroundings, St Francis is very best identified for his love of animals and the flora and fauna. Famously, he preached to the birds and referred to all creatures – together with the celebs and planets – as his cherished “brothers and sisters”.
When Francis died in 1226, fears that his frame can be stolen intended that it used to be positioned in an iron cage and buried so deep underneath the basilica in Assisi, Italy, that its whereabouts remained a thriller for 600 years. Apart from his popularity for miracles and holiness, and next canonisation in 1228, the rationale Francis’s frame used to be hidden used to be what it contained.
Two years prior to his demise, it’s mentioned Francis skilled a imaginative and prescient of a crucified Seraphim (a six-winged angel) which marked his frame with the stigmata – the injuries of the crucified Christ. The primary recorded case of stigmata, medieval resources let us know that in contrast to later stigmatics, Francis didn’t simply have holes in his arms and ft, however relatively growths corresponding to nails.
St Francis’s earliest biographer Thomas of Celano wrote: “His hands and his feet seemed to be pierced by nails, the heads of the nails appearing on the insides of his hands and the upper side of his feet, and their points protruding on the other side … [His torso] was scarred as if it had been pierced by a spear, and it often seeped blood.”
The Basilica of St Francis of Assisi in Umbria, Italy, will provide the bones of the saint for one month.
Lamio Giancarlo / Shutterstock
Discovering the the lacking frame
A large number of efforts to find St Francis’s frame over the centuries all failed. In 1818, despite the fact that, excavations deep throughout the basilica’s foundations in the end published the iron cage and the straightforward coffin containing the saint’s bones.
Those have been tested by means of ecclesial and clinical government which affirmed their authenticity. The remaining time the bones have been tested used to be in 1978, after they have been positioned within a nitrogen-filled perspex field to help their preservation. An underground chapel used to be built to permit pilgrims to peer St Francis’ tomb, despite the fact that crucially now not the bones themselves.
To commemorate the 800th anniversary of his demise – referred to as the transitus – St Francis’s stays will move on prolonged show for the primary time. From February 22 to March 22 2026, the perspex field containing his bones will relaxation on the foot of the principle altar within the basilica in Assisi.
Loads of 1000’s of pilgrims are anticipated to come back and spot the bones, with their show opening a year-long sequence of occasions – each in Assisi and around the globe – honouring the anniversary. The date itself falls on October 4 2026.
The 800th anniversary additionally marks a second of nationwide birthday celebration for Italy. Giorgia Meloni welcomed the Vatican’s determination to permit the stays to move on show, noting that, “St Francis is one of the foundational figures of Italian identity”.
St Francis’s Canticle of the Creatures – a hymn which he composed as he lay demise – is without doubt one of the earliest works of Italian literature, with the oldest surviving reproduction being present in a 790-year-old manuscript housed within the Franciscan convent in Assisi.
The legacy of a much-loved saint
St Francis’s teachings have exerted a profound affect on trendy Catholicism, in particular its instructing at the setting.
Pope Francis – who took the title in honour of the Italian saint – made the Canticle of the Creatures the cornerstone of his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si. The Catholic church’s first “green encyclical”, it praised the flora and fauna as our “beautiful mother” and affirmed the church’s dedication to selling environmental justice.
St Francis is without doubt one of the maximum respected saints of the Catholic religion.
DysiO / Shutterstock
Likewise, a significant joint report issued remaining July by means of the bishops of Asia, Africa and South The us drew closely on St Francis’s pondering, rejecting what it referred to as the “false solutions” complex by means of many western governments to handle the local weather disaster.
On the press convention marking the report’s newsletter, certainly one of its authors, the Franciscan Cardinal Jaime Spengler, mentioned: “From the heart of the Amazon, we hear a cry: how can we allow a market without ethical regulations decide the fate of the planet’s most vital ecosystems?”
When St Francis’ bones move on show, they’re going to function a formidable reminder now not simplest of his enduring relevance for Catholic spirituality, but additionally the important position he has performed in serving to the fresh Catholic church to transform probably the most main advocates for significant local weather reform.
The bones of St Francis will probably be on show on the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, Umbria, Italy, from February 22 to March 22 2026
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