An hour after leaving Spello, Italy, weaving our way across the forested slopes of Mount Subasio through such tiny towns as San Giovanni, we entered into Assisi through Porta Perlici, passing Rocca Maggiore, the ancient fortress overlooking the city where Francis and Clare lived nine centuries ago. Once within her ancient walls, I had that welcoming feeling as though I was coming home again. Last time I was in Assisi was a decade ago. We checked into St. Antony’s Guest House, a spacious facility run by the Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement, located just above the Church of Saint Clare (Chiesa Santa Chiara). Our room, #12, also named “Our Lady of Hope” featured a fabulous balcony overlooking the city and valley. We arranged to stay in Assisi for seven nights, booking our room through www.monasterystays.com, a booking website for hundreds of guest lodgings in convents and monasteries across Italy. We’ve been blessed on this three month European pilgrimage with amazing views from the rooms where we’ve stayed, but our Assisi balcony view is the finest I’ve know from any balcony in all of Europe. Our week in Assisi had included quiet mornings of reading and writing at the Guesthouse, trips out into the city to explore, times for worship and prayer at various churches in town, self-guided walking tours, delightful meals at various restaurants, and several evening concerts, including these music gatherings:
- Fionian Chamber Choir, an ethereal accapella choir of 20 men and women from Denmark singing Nordic songs including a few by Danish composer Carl Nielson in honor 150th anniversary of his birth, though they did open with two pieces by Giovanni de Palestrina;
- Scola Gregorian Assisiensen, a nine voice men’s choir from Assisi dedicated to singing Gregorian chants
- Another Chamber Choir singing selections from Faure’s Requiem;
- A harpist and cellist who played in the Piazza Santa Chiara, with their music wafting up to our balcony and room at the guesthouse, less than a block uphill.
- One evening, we walked down to the Church of Saint Clare, to attend Vespers, an evening prayer service sung by the Franciscan nuns who could not be seen but only heard, singing a 30 minute worship service of mostly Psalms and Scripture songs.
In Assisi, I began writing a book manuscript titled Vineyard Spirituality: Seven Ways to Cultivate Spiritual Fruitfulness. I write slowly, and hope to finish this manuscript sometime by 2020, with the prayer this book will include some “twenty-twenty” vision for spiritual growth for individuals and communities of faith. This was the vision and passion of Francis and Clare. With sparks of faith, hope, and love for Christ, these two lit a spiritual fire that not only transformed their world in the 13th century, but also today, continues to influence millions worldwide, including over four million people annually who, like us, make pilgrimage to the little town of Assisi to connect with the life and legacy of Francis and Clare. The reason we came to Assisi is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus by studying the lives and legacies of Francis and Clare.
During our week at Assisi, we went on a walking pilgrimage around Assisi to places related to Francis and Clare. I brought along my kindle reader, and read aloud descriptions of these places from several books from the bibliography above. Here are some of the places we visited on this pilgrimage in and around Assisi:
- Oratorio de San Francesco Piccolino: birthplace of Francis;
- Chiesa Nuova Church: the church built over the birth home of Francis;
- Chiesa Santa Maria Maggiore: the church where Francis was baptized;
- Duomo San Rufino: the church where Clare was baptized, and where she first heard Francis preach;
- Convent of San Damiano: where Francis first heard a call to ministry as he meditated upon the cross, Jesus spoke to him telling him, “Rebuild my Church!” Francis spent two years rebuilding this chapel, stone by stone. San Damiano is also where Clare prayed and served faithfully for over 40 years as a Franciscan nun, where she began the 2nd order of Franciscans, the Order of Poor Clares and also where she wrote the first Rule of Life written by a woman for the community spiritual life of women dedicated to Christ;
- Piazza Vescovado: where Francis gave away all his earthy possessions to his father Pietro and began his ministry;
- Temple of Minerva: in this ancient Roman temple, a Benedictine Abbey Church at the time of Francis, is where Francis received the Gospels of Matthew and Luke as the first governing guide for his order of monks;
- Bernardo da Quintavalle’s Home: where Francis lived while rebuilding San Damiano; Bernardo was one of Francis’ first disciples and followers;
- Chiesa San Stefano: one of the oldest churches in Assisi and the most humble and unadorned in Assisi, truly has the spirit of Franciscan spirituality within her walls; and it is spoken that the bells of San Stefano rang of their own at the moment of Francis’ death in 1226;
- Basilica of San Francesco: built two years after Francis died to honor of his life and witness on the site where executions had taken place in Assisi. Francis’ body is buried there in the crypt, beneath two layers of sanctuaries marvelously painted and frescoed by some of the greatest painters of the high Middle Ages and Renaissance, including many scenes of the life of Saint Francis by Giotto;
- Chiesa Santa Chiara: the Church of Saint Clare, where her body was buried, and where the Order of Poor Clares moved in the late 1200s.
- Later in the week, we took beautiful five-mile walk out of town, up the side of Mount Subasio to the Eremo della Carceri, a prayer hermitage used often by Francis and his followers during his lifetime.
To attempt to recapture the “spirit of Francis”, I would not recommend the Basilica of San Francesco, but rather the little church of San Stefano, or the Eremo della Carceri; both of which radiate the humble simplicity of spiritual life with God, one in the heart of Assisi, the other about a 2.5 mile walk up the side of Mount Subasio through forests. I spoke with a third order English Anglican minister who was leading a pilgrimage retreat for 10 others from England. David has been leading retreats to Assisi for twenty years, following the pilgrim path of Francis and Clare. When I mentioned San Stefano as the place where I feel closest to Francis in all of Assisi, he totally agreed, saying it is the best place to pray in this city of Francis’ birth. To come close to Clare, spend time in San Damiano, a place of such amazing peace, prayerfulness and beauty, just as the woman who prayed here 900 years ago. While in Assisi, I took time to read the writings of Francis (1182-1226) and Clare (1194-1253), as well as books on their lives, including several biographies of these two. Here’s my bibliography for those who are interested in Francis/Clare studies with bold print books those I’ve been reading over the past four months while on sabbatical:
- Armstrong, Regis J. and Ignatius C. Brady, trans. Francis and Clare: The Complete Works. The Classics of Western Spirituality. New York: Paulist Press, 1982.
- Bachelder, Louise, ed., Abbey Langdon Alger, trans. The Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi. New York: The Peter Pauper Press, 1964.
- Bader, W. ed. The Prayers of Saint Francis. New York: New City Press, 1990.
- Blastic, Michael, F.M.; Wayne Hellmann, OFM; Jay Hammond, eds. The Writings of Clare of Assisi: Letters, Form of Life, Testament and Blessing – Studies in Early Franciscan Sources. New York: St. Bonaventure, 2011.
- Bodo, Murray, O.F.M., Clare: A Light in the Garden. Cincinnati, OH: Anthony Messenger Press, 1992.
- Bodo, Murray, and Susan Saint Sing. A Retreat with Francis & Clare of Assisi: Following Our Pilgrim Hearts. Cincinatti, OH: St. Anthony Messenger, 1996.
- Bodo, Murray. Francis and Jesus. Cincinatti, OH: Franciscan Media, 2012.
- Bodo, Murray, O.F.M. Tales of St. Francis: Ancient Stories for Contemporary Living. Cincinatti, OH: St. Anthony Messenger, 1988.
- The Life of St. Francis of Assisi. Cardinal Manning, ed. Charlotte, NC: Tan Classics, 2010.
- Cavazos-Gonzales, Gilberto, O.F.M. Greater Than a Mother’s Love: The Spirituality of Francis and Clare of Assisi. Chicago, IL: University of Scranton Press, 2010.
- Chesterton, G.K. Francis of Assisi. New York: Image, 2012.
- Cowan, James. Francis: A Saint’s Way. Ligouri, MO: Ligouri/Triumph, 2001.
- Cron, Ian Morgan. Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006.
- Cunningham, Lawrence S. Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004.
- Erikson, Joan Mowat. Saint Francis & His Four Ladies. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 1970.
- Foley, Leonard, O.F.M., Jovian Weigal, O.F.M., and Patti Normile, S.F.O. To Live as Francis Lived: A Guide for Secular Franciscans. Cincinatti, OH: St. Anthony Messenger, 2000.
- Francis of Assisi, The Complete Writings of St. Francis of Assisi. CreateSpace, 2009.
- Francke, Linda Bird; On the Road with Francis of Assisi: A Timeless Journey Through Umbria and Tuscany, and Beyond. New York, Random House, 2005.
- Gasnick, Roy M. O.F.M., ed. The Francis Book: 800 Years with the Saint from Assisi. New York: Collier, 1980.
- Green, Julian. God’s Fool: The Life and Times of Francis of Assisi. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1987.
- Griffin, Emilie, ed., Regis J. Armstrong and Ignatius C. Brady, trans. Francis & Clare of Assisi: Selected Writings. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006.
- Holl, Adolf. The Last Christian. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1980.
- Horan, Daniel P., O.F.M. Dating God: Live and Love in the Way of St. Francis. Cincinatti, OH: St. Antony’s Messenger, 2012.
- Horan, Daniel P., O.F.M. The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria, 2014.
- House, Adrian. Francis of Assisi: A Revolutionary Life. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 2003.
- Karrer, Otto, ed., Wydenbruck, N., trans. The Little Flowers, Legends, and Lauds. Sheed and Ward, 1979.
- Kazantzakis, Nikos. Saint Francis. A. Bien, trans. New York: Touchstone, 1962.
- Lorenzini, Chiara. Francis of Assisi. Assisi, Italy: Editrice Minerva, 1991.
- Robson, Michael J.P. The Cambridge Companion to Francis of Assisi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
- Rohr, Richard. Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi. Cincinnati, OH: Franciscan Media, 2014.
- Sabatier, Paul. The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis. Brewster, MA: Paraclete, 2014.
- Sweeney, Jon. Francis of Assisi in His Own Words: The Essential Writings. Brewster, MA: Paraclete, 2013.
- Talbot, John Michael and Steve Rabey. The Lessons of St. Francis. New York: Plume, 1988.
- Vardey, Lucinda. Traveling with Saints in Italy: Contemporary Pilgrimages on Ancient Paths.Mahwah, NJ: Hidden Spring, 2005.