The Basilica of St. Francis

Seeing the ornate cathedrals was impressive in every city we visited. However, not until we stopped in Assisi did we feel the overwhelming sense of being at a truly sacred place. The Basilica of St. Francis was built between 1228 and 1253 A.D. Being American-born, we had no frame of reference that allowed us to relate to anything older than our own country. We fell in love with Assisi and St. Francis and easily lost track of time.  When we resurfaced, we realized our tour bus was about to leave without us and we had no idea where it was parked or how  to get back to it. No one we asked spoke English on the street where we walked although a lot of people were sitting outside, just relaxing. They smiled and shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders in the universal language that said "I don't understand you." It took a lot of gesturing and high school Spanish before someone understood our attempt at Charades and pointed us to the street several levels below us where the busdriver was patiently waiting for his tardy American tourists. Martin Gray, who took the beautiful photo above, wrote, "St. Francis was born here in 1182 (some say 1181), the son of a well-to-do cloth merchant. A lively, even riotous youth who dreamed of achieving military glory, Francis abandoned his worldly ambitions at the age of 19 while a prisoner of war in Perugia. He thereafter became a mystic who experienced visions of Christ and Mary, composed the first poems in the Italian language about the beauties of nature, and in 1210 founded the famous order of mendicant friars known as Franciscans."  For a visual delight that includes hundreds of photos of sacred sites all over the world, visit Martin's website at http://www.sacredsites.com/

Words by Bishop R. Heber

 

 
 

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