04/10/2026
Today is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), patron saint of Italy. Francis renounced wealth for a life of poverty, founded the Franciscan Order, and became one of Christianity’s most beloved saints. He was canonized in 1228, and his tomb lies in the magnificent Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, whose Upper and Lower Churches preserve masterpieces by Cimabue, Giotto, and others depicting his life.
Francis is also remembered for his profound love of animals and all creation, seeing the natural world as a reflection of God’s goodness and calling all creatures his brothers and sisters. He is traditionally credited with popularizing the living Nativity scene, first celebrated at Greccio in 1223, a tradition closely associated in Rome with Arnolfo di Cambio’s Nativity scene in Santa Maria Maggiore, the oldest of its kind.
Francis became a major subject of Italian art from the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance and Baroque. Pietro Cavallini depicted him with the Virgin and Child at Santa Maria in Aracoeli, while the Renaissance Bufalini Chapel, decorated by Pinturicchio, celebrates the Franciscan tradition through the life of St. Bernardino of Siena.
In Florence, Ghirlandaio’s Sassetti Chapel at Santa Trinita contains his celebrated Renaissance cycle of the Life of St. Francis, blending sacred history with contemporary Florentine life and showcasing the artist’s extraordinary genius, beauty, and mastery of Renaissance storytelling.
At San Cosimato in Trastevere, Pastura painted the beautiful Virgin and Child with St. Francis and St. Clare, a more popular and humble expression of Franciscan devotion, appropriate to a church rooted in the life of the people of Trastevere.
In the Baroque, Francis was often portrayed in mystical ecstasy, especially receiving the stigmata. In Domenichino’s St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata at Santa Maria della Concezione in Rome, the saint is shown in a moment of intense mystical experience as he receives the marks of Christ’s Passion, emphasizing his humility, devotion, and union with Christ.
