ASSISI- Shrine of St. Francis

Cue (NZERS), Issue 33, 15 October 1945, Page 14

ASSISIShrine of St. Francis

By

"Chameleon"

THE little hill-town of Assisi, lying some fourteen miles east- of Perugia, exists today by, for and on account cf St. Francis. He is more than the patron saint of the town, he is its living. For hither in. peace-time come a swarm of pilgrims, Catholic and Protestant, drawn by the fame cf that man who seven hundred years ago started here a movement that shook the world, and that „still flourishes. And the people of Assisi are just as good as the next man at turning an honest penny. So the tourist, in khaki or in mufti, finds guides and sacristans talking passable English, ready to show him around, histories of varying degrees of unreliability, printed in an approximation of English, and shops full of souvenirs, as well as a fully—stocked shop in the very precincts of the Church of St. .Francis itself. Shades of the Poverello I But the inhabitants, though alert, are net troublesome, and it is possible to see the town very thoroughly almost without expense. . Many of the Franciscan associations are not in the town itself but round about, and. it is well to give a full day to Assisi if these interesting spots are to be seen. The first and best known of them, Sta. Maria degl; Angell, can best be seen on the way to the town. This great domed Church, standing almost isolated on the fiat below Assisi, is of surpassing interest not for itself but for what it. covers, for under the dome, dwarfed by so much magnificence, is the little oratory of

the Porziuncola, old even in St. Francis’s day. Its wooden doors are half worn away and highly polished by the lingers of the faithful, and inside the stones of the walls are polished too by the frictions of centuries of worshippers. Behind the little altar is a primitive Annunciation by Ilario da Viterbo, painted in 1393. Behind and to the right of the Porziuncola is the Capella del Transito where 'St. Francis died in 1226. It looks less obviously old as it is covered with frescoes, but its door: only held together by a coating of wire netting, gives an indication of its real age. The celebrated Bo iSpagna executed the interior frescoes in the early sixteenth century. The terracotta statue of the Saint is by Andrea della Robbia, who also executed the fine altar piece in the left transept of Sta. Maria. In the days of St. Francis these little’chapels were set in a forest and here lived the brothers who were bent on service. Those devoting themselves to meditation lived at the Hermitage of the Oarceri, up the hill behind Assisi, about an hour’s walk from the Porta dei Cappuccini. . , ■ -

From Sta. -Maria it is about four and a—half kilometres to Assisi. As one drives up to the town, the vast pile of the Church and "Monastery of St. Francis dominates the .scene. The earthly magnificence of this mass of buildings, started by Brother Elias, soon after the death of the Saint, makes it clear why the Zelanti, that group of brothers most devoted to Francis’s Holy 'Poverty, fought the scheme with all the strength they had. Swinging left on ..■entering the town itself, one comes up a steep street into the fine Piazza of St. Francis, surrounded by arcades, while at the far end is the Romanesque portal of the lower church. St. Francis is a double church, the lower crypt-like church, built in 1228-32, being largely Romanesque,~the upper, finished in 1253, being Gothic. The -Lower Church is richly frescoed but. so dark that it is almost impossible to appreciate the detail of the paintings. There is a Madonna by Cimabue in the north transept and in the vaulting above the choir is a number cf frescoes' reputed, rather doubtfully, to be by Giotto. The steps leading down from the nave go to a modern crypt where the coffin of the Saint can be seen. His remains, hidden by Brother Elias to prevent any neighbouring towns stealing them after the genial fashion of the Middle Ages,;were only rediscovered in 1818. After looking round- the Lower Church, one can enter the Upper through the Sacristy, a stop being possible on the way to buy guide books, post-cards or souvenirs. The Upper Church is a great contrast to the Lower. High, light and uncluttered, the clear bright colours of the frescoes that cover all the walls give it a gaiety that seems much more in keeping with this happiest of Saints than the tomblike Lower Church. Here, too, are reputed Giottos, the lower frescoes of the nave, which record the life of St. Francis.. But this ascription is nearly

as doubtful as that in the Lower Church. ’• » * '1 ' ‘ ‘ 1 v ■? ’ ■' Leaving S. Francisco, one follows the street of the same name, between tall old houses in pleasant-coloured stone. No. 11, the (Public Hospital, on the right, is built of the remains -of an old Pil grim’ Hospital, . and has a . 'fifteenth century Madonna and Saints on the facade. Opposite is the Giacobetti Palace, (No. 14), a seventeenth century palace that now houses the Municipal library. The way leads through the'old Arch of the Seminary, marking the ancient limit of the walls, to the public square, a good centre for exploration of the town. In the square itself the first .and most striking thing is the Torre Com—nnuiale on the left.. It is the Gothic bell-tower of the Town Hall/ and not in any way connected with the church next door. In the lower courses of the tower are set the old standard brick and tile measures used by the Commune. The church next door, Santa Maria della Minerva, is of interest not

as a church, but for its unusual front, for it is quite obviously and plainly the front of a pagan temple, and incidentally the best-preserved such temple in Northern and Central Italy. The six Corinthian columns are still in very good condition though the temple has lost somewhat by being sandwiched between a tall modern building and a taller Gothic tower instead of standing, as designed, in dignified isolation. The existence of the temple clearly indicates that hereabouts must have been situate the Forum of the days when- Rome ruled in Assisi, and, in fact, such is the case. The old Forum was well below the level of the present Piazza and no trace of it is visible, but by going back down the way one came and into the Crypt of St. Nicholas (a crypt without a church, by the way) entrance can be had to the Forum which it appears was arched over to make the modern Piazza. It is fascinating to roam around underground over cobblestones the Reimans laid, and reconstruct the life of ancient Assisium. A little museum of Roman bits and pieces helps in the reconstruction. The old gentleman who keeps the key of the crypt may be found in the Palazzo del Priori, a pleasant Gothic building in the main square nearly opposite the Temple of Minerva. He also looks after the picture gallery on the ground floor of the Palazzo. This should not be missed, as there are several extremely funny pictures. Perhaps the pearl of the collection is No. 27, where father and mother are lying in bed with their throats cut. The young man who has just performed the deed is standing at the foot of the bed with a sword in his hand and a ludicrously puzzled expression on his face while the daughter of the house, on whose behalf he has clearly done it all, is ticking him off in no uncertain manner. As plainly as if it were written she is saying ”1 told you it would be a messy business and you’ve ruined

the sheets — clumsy oaf”. There is a collection of coins here, too, from old Roman ones to an English penny of 1907 or thereabouts. The other points of interest in the town are fairly near the square. Pacing east, the first street on the right leads down twenty yards or so to the Chiesa Nuova, a baroque church of

no particular interest but sheltering behind it the little Oratory of St. Francis which may once have formed pari of the house of Pietro Bernard-one, the father of St. Francis, where the Saint was born. The sloping street leading east, up from the left-hand corner takes cue to the Cathedral of St. Rufinus, ' in which Francis must have worshipped for it was built in 1140 on the site of a still earlier church. Rufinas was the first bishop of the town. He- converted the townspeople in the third century and died a martyr’s death in 139 A.D. Being a

bishop was in those days classed well up among the dangerous trades. The Cathedral has fine carved choir stalls and a good statue of St. Francis by Giovanni Dupre but its Romanesque facade, with three rose windows and its solid campanile, are most worth attention. The baptismal font is the original one in which St. Francis, St. Clare and the Emperor Frederic II were baptised. From St. Rufinus it is but a short walk down the hill to St. Chiara, dedicated to St. Francis’ disciple, St. Clare, founder of the Poor Clares or female Franciscans, whose devotion to the Franciscan ideal of poverty caused acute embarrassment to the church authorities until time and commonsense moderated the ladies’ apostolic ardour. St. Chiara was built in 1260, a few years after the death of St. Clare, on the same plan as the Upper Church of St. Francis. Its frescoes are somewhat faded, and the chief point of interest is the miraculous crucifix which is said to- have spoken to St. Francis at the Church of

St. Damian, bidding him go and restore Christ’s crumbling Church. This crucifix is not on show and one must ask the sacristan to unlock it. , '' : ?JThis exhausts the main points cf interest of the town but the energetic may walk up the hill to the old Suabian castle, the Rocca Maggiore. The present castle dates only from 1367 but it is based on foundations of a much elder one destroyed by the Assisians in 1298. The view from its tower is well worth the climb. Those who have taken their time in making the tour here described have probably used up their day, but the pilgrim, as distinct from the sightseer, should not go without visiting St. Damian’s, the little church ten minutes from the Porta Nuova, where St. Clare founded her first convent. It is now occupied by the Brown Friars and its simple and unpretentious stones reflect the simplicity of St. Francis and preserve his spirit far better than the over-magnificent Basilica formally dedicated to his name.