Francis of Assisi: Assisi, Greccio and La Verna

The story of Francis's call is set in this church in 1205. Francis went in to pray before the Crucifix, and heard a voice descend from the cross and say three times: go and repair my church, which is all in ruins. The convent later became the home of Saint Clare and her followers in 1212. The cross said to have spoken to him now hangs in the Basilica of Saint Clare in Assisi. The convent at San Damiano is open free of charge to the public.

Visitor guidance: The convent of San Damiano is open to the public free of charge.

The little chapel lay abandoned in a wood of oak trees until, around 1211, the abbot of Saint Benedict of Monte Subasio gave it to Francis. Here Francis received Clare and so established the Order of Poor Clares. When his end approached he asked to be brought back. He died in his cell, not fifteen yards from the church, at sunset on Saturday, 3 October 1226.

At Christmas 1223 Francis devised the first living Nativity scene in a cave near the Sanctuary of Greccio. Townspeople arrived carrying torches and candles. The tradition of the manger scene continues at Greccio to this day, and the sanctuary may be visited.

Visitor guidance: The Sanctuary of Greccio may be visited.

Francis was given the use of the mountain of La Verna on 8 May 1213. In August 1224 Francis withdrew there to keep a forty days fast, and on or about 14 September he received the stigmata. The Chapel of the Stigmata marks the spot where Francis is said to have received the first stigmata in Christian history.

Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis in Assisi on 16 July 1228 and the basilica was begun in his honor. It rose on a hill at the west side of Assisi known as the Hill of Hell. The basilica comprises two churches, the Upper and the Lower, and a crypt where the saint's remains are interred. They were rediscovered beneath the floor of the Lower Basilica in 1818.