{"id":498035,"date":"2026-02-23T03:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T03:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/498035\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T03:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T03:32:14","slug":"st-francis-of-assisis-bones-on-display-for-pilgrims-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/498035\/","title":{"rendered":"St Francis of Assisi’s bones on display for pilgrims in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\ufeffn a resurrection of a centuries-old tradition, the bones of St Francis of Assisi are going on public display in the Italian<\/a> town he’s named for.<\/p>\n

More than 400,000 people have pre-registered to view the relics, which will be on display for a month in commemoration of the 800th anniversary of Francis’ death.<\/p>\n

The aim is to revive his message of peace and fraternity that made him one of the most beloved Christian saints and inspired Pope Francis to take his name – the first pope to do so.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The bones of St Francis of Assisi are on display in his old home town. (AP)<\/p>\n

The bones themselves are contained in a slim, bulletproof Plexiglas case in the lower Basilica of St Francis in the hilltop Umbrian town the medieval friar made famous.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Francis, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, was born in 1181 in Assisi, Umbria.<\/p>\n

A famed mystic, poet and eventual saint, he founded the Franciscan order, which exists to this day, and in his life became a famed and beloved wandering preacher.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The Franciscan order is commemorating the 800th anniversary of their founder’s death. (AP)<\/p>\n

He was canonised less than two years after his death in 1226.<\/p>\n

\ufeffSince his death he has legendarily become known as a protector and lover of animals.<\/p>\n

His body was in fact lost for centuries after his death, after one of Francis’ close followers, \ufeffElias, secretly buried the saint’s remains in a basilica that was intended to house his tomb.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have registered. (AP)<\/p>\n

He feared plunderers might seek to steal Francis’ body, such was the saint’s reputation, and use it to bolster the status of a church of their choosing.<\/p>\n

It was a fairly common medieval practice for invading armies to seize holy relics, or for unscrupulous merchants or religious leaders to swindle them away.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Relics, including the bones of saints, were often publicly displayed in churches and cathedrals and were objects of prayer for faithful Catholics.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"\"\/People are given 10 minute intervals with the protected relics. (AP)<\/p>\n

Thus, Francis’ body remained buried anonymously under a column in a building that was meant to proclaim his holy glory and lure pilgrims – and their money – to Assisi.<\/p>\n

The bones were discovered in 1818 during renovation works and Pope Pius VII declared them to belong to Francis.<\/p>\n

Security was tight but discreet yesterday morning local time as the first pilgrims passed through metal detectors before filing into the basilica.<\/p>\n

Police declined to provide details, but said extra officers, sniffer dogs, plain-clothed police, television cameras and other measures were being used to protect the relics. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Francis’ bones were lost for centuries before their rediscovery. (AP)<\/p>\n

Some people signed up to visit the relics when the exposition was first announced in October, and they were slotted into 10-minute increments starting that morning.<\/p>\n

Silvanella Tamos travelled to Assisi from Pordenone, north of Venice, with a group of 54 people from her diocese. They had had one of the earliest slots Sunday, at 9.30am.<\/p>\n

“It’s a body that’s alive,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s not a dead body. He still has a lot to tell us today.”<\/p>\n

The bones show the disease and ill-health Francis suffered through his life, and confirmed the saint’s small physical stature – one dwarfed entirely by his contemporary and posthumous legend.\ufeff<\/p>\n

With Associated Press.\ufeff<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\ufeffn a resurrection of a centuries-old tradition, the bones of St Francis of Assisi are going on public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-498035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}