Saint Francis of Assisi’s skeleton goes on public display for first time | Italy
The skeleton of St Francis of Assisi will go on public display for the first time from Sunday, in a move expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors.
The remains, in a nitrogen-filled Plexiglas box with the Latin inscription “Corpus Sancti Francisci” (corpse of St. Francis), are on display at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in the Italian hillside town.
Saint Francis, who died on October 3, 1226, founded the Franciscan order after giving up his fortune and dedicating his life to the poor.
Giulio Cesareo, communications director of the Franciscan monastery in Assisi, said he hoped the exhibition would be a “meaningful experience” for believers and non-believers alike.
Franciscan friar Cesareo said the “damaged” and “depleted” condition of the bones showed that St. Francis was “fully devoted” to his life’s work.
His remains, which will be exhibited until March 22, were transferred to the basilica built in honor of the saint in 1230. However, in 1818, his grave was rediscovered after excavations carried out in great secrecy.
Apart from previous excavations for dissection and scholarly purposes, the bones of St. Francis have been exhibited only once, in 1978, to a very limited audience and for only one day.
The transparent box, usually hidden from view and containing the holy relics since 1978, was removed from the metal chest where it was stored in the stone tomb in the basilica crypt on Saturday. The safe itself is inside another bulletproof and anti-theft glass case.
Surveillance cameras will operate 24 hours a day to further protect the ruins.
St. Francis is the patron saint of Italy and a public holiday will be restored on October 4 to commemorate the 800th anniversary of his death.
Marco Moroni, patron of the Franciscan monastery, said there had already been “almost 400,000 (people) booking reservations from all over the world to see the saint’s relics, with a clear predominance of course from Italy.” “But we also have Brazilians, North Americans and Africans,” he added.
During this usually quite quiet time of year, the basilica usually has 1,000 visitors a day on weekdays, rising to 4,000 on weekends. The Franciscans said they expect the number of visitors to rise to 15,000 on weekdays and 19,000 on Saturdays and Sundays for the relics to be on display for a month.
“From the very beginning, since the time of the catacombs, Christians have revered the bones of the martyrs, the relics of the martyrs, and they have never experienced it as something truly terrible,” Cesareo said.
Prolonged display of St. Francis’ relics should not affect their state of preservation, experts said. “Since the showcase is sealed, it has no contact with the outside air. In fact, it remains in the same conditions as in the tomb,” Cesareo said.
The light remaining dim in the church should not have any effect either. “The basilica will not be lit like a stadium,” Cesareo said. “This is not a movie set.”
