{"id":13874,"date":"2025-10-09T16:44:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=13874"},"modified":"2025-10-09T16:44:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:44:27","slug":"body-of-st-francis-of-assisi-to-be-on-display-for-the-first-time-in-800-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/10\/body-of-st-francis-of-assisi-to-be-on-display-for-the-first-time-in-800-years.html","title":{"rendered":"Body of St. Francis of Assisi to Be on Display For the First Time in 800 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_13877\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13877\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13877\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2025\/10\/St-Francis-of-Assisi_credit-Adobe-Stock.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13877\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adobe Stock<br \/>Google Pro-Life: Left: bennymarty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For the first time in 800 years, the body of St. Francis of Assisi will be on display for the general public. The announcement was made from the Loggia delle Benedizioni by Fray Giulio Cesareo, director of the press office of the Sacred Convent. The announcement was made on October 4, the Feast of St. Assisi, which has been recently reinstated as a civil holiday in Italy. St. Francis\u2019s remains will be displayed at the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi from February 22 to March 22, 2026 during the 800<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of his death.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/en\/church\/news\/2025-10\/in-2026-relics-of-st-francis-of-assisi-on-public-display.html\">statement<\/a> from Sacro Convento called the display \u201cAn extraordinary gift, a profound invitation to prayer, and an opportunity to see the Gospel of Christ lived out fully in the life of someone just like us.\u201d The statement said that the purpose of the exposition would be to highlight \u201cthe Gospel theme of the seed that dies to bear fruit in love and fraternity, invites us to reflect on the life of the Saint, which continues to bear fruit 800 years later and still inspires humanity along the path of peace, fraternity, service to the poor, joy, and care for creation.\u201d The announcement also anticipated that the veneration will attract a \u201clarge influx\u201d and that routes to see Assisi\u2019s holy relics will be accessible to all. There will be obligatory free online reservations to help the process.<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who attended the October 4 celebrations, lauded the news. \u201cThe devotion of Italians to St. Francis is strong, authentic, and visceral, which can be seen in the faces of the pilgrims present here,\u201d she said. \u201cToday the Italian people turn their gaze here, to Assisi, because St. Francis is one of the founding figures of the Italian identity. Francis of Assisi was a man of action, extreme but not extremist. Today we celebrate Francis not because he needs us, but because we need him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>St. Francis\u2019s tomb had been placed in the Vatican crypt, where it later became \u201cinaccessible.\u201d St. Francis\u2019s tomb <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/267021\/remains-of-st-francis-of-assisi-to-be-publicly-displayed-for-first-time\">remained hidden<\/a> for centuries until it was rediscovered some time late on the night of December 12<sup>th<\/sup> or early morning of December 13, 1818. \u00a0The Sacred Convent stated it hoped the display would help viewers focus on Assisi\u2019s life as well as death. \u201cThe eighth centenary of the death of St. Francis, in 2026, is a time of remembrance and renewal,\u201d it said in a statement. \u201cWe do not celebrate death, but, recognizing it as a \u2018sister\u2019 to St. Francis, we celebrate the life that blossoms from the gift and offering of self.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the first time in 800 years, the body of St. Francis of Assisi will be on display for the general public. The announcement was made from the Loggia delle Benedizioni by Fray Giulio Cesareo, director of the press office of the Sacred Convent. The announcement was made on October 4, the Feast of St.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":13877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Body of St. Francis of Assisi to Be on Display For the First Time in 800 Years<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For the first time in 800 years, the body of St. Francis of Assisi will be displayed in Assisi in 2026 during the saint\u2019s 800th anniversary.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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