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Franciscan Sanctuaries
Poggio Bustone
There are four Franciscan shrines in the Valle di Rieti – we have
already visited Greccio, Fonte
Colombo and La Foresta. Now
we need to put on good walking boots to climb into the mountains if we
are to continue our pilgrimage on to Poggio Bustone.
Aerial view of Poggio Bustone emphasising
its remote location
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Even today it is remote, situated in a valley among craggy mountains … above
the small village. It was to this place that Francis came
in the summer of 1208 following his very public renunciation of his father
who was a leading businessman in Assisi. Francis had been joined by six
men from Assisi, some prominent, and they lived together as brothers
near the little church of the Portiuncula in great simplicity and poverty.
But they were social outcasts as people did not understand their sudden
change in lifestyle. Francis needed direction: what
was he to do now that he had his first followers? He left
Assisi and went with his six companions to the Rieti Valley and climbed
to Poggio Bustone.
 High on a rocky ledge Francis found two caves close to a Benedictine
Monastery, far removed from the busy routine of daily life. He
prayed there alone, fasting. The cave in which Francis prayed
is called the Grotto of the Revelation. Here
during his prayer, Francis was assured that his sins had been forgiven,
and that his brethren, the Penitents of Assisi, would grow in number.
This is a picturesque account of his arrival in the actual town of Poggio
Bustone as told by Hyacinth Blocker ofm:
As (Francis) entered the village and swung down
the main street, many of the people were just getting up and preparing
to go to work in their hillside vineyards and terraced farms. More
than likely they thought they were still dreaming when they saw this
stranger in their midst, his thin, wiry body covered with a rough
tunic, held together indifferently at the waist with a piece of knotted
rope. We can easily picture the shutters flying open like
umbrellas, heads popping out of the windows and necks craning with
curiosity. We can picture doors being pulled ajar and
uncombed, tousled heads peering around the corners, followed by shivering
bodies in rumpled night clothes. We can see the many dark eyes
dilating with wonder and hear the note of puzzlement in the buzz
of excited voices. “Who’s that funny little fellow
out there in the street?” they were probably saying.
Francis, with a large, disarming grin, waved his
hands informally to everyone, from one side of the street to the other,
and sang out cheerily, “Good morning, good people!”
The peasants of Poggio Bustone have never forgotten
that first bright greeting of the poverello. Even today, over
800 years later, near the centre of the village you will find a stone
slab, green now with moss and mildewed with age, commemorating the
coming of Francis. In faded, dimly legible letters, it says
simply:
Good morning, good people
The rousing greeting of Saint Francis
when he entered Poggio Bustone in 1209
In Franciscan history, this sanctuary is remembered for the following
reasons:
- as the place of pardon – since here
Francis sought forgiveness for the sins of his past life
- as a place of revelation – because
it was here that Francis received direction for the future of the Order,
and
- as the place of departure on the first mission of
the Franciscan Order.
The Temple of Peace
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In recent times a small Temple of Peace has been built at Poggio Bustone
and in the apse of the little church there is a statue of St Francis
smiling and stepping forward. Nearby, commemorating the original
focus of Franciscan Missionary activity, is the following inscription:
St Francis of Assisi departing from this mountain in the winter
of 1209 called to himself his first companions and said to them:
“Go, beloved brothers,
two by two
through the diverse parts of the earth,
announcing peace to men.”
References:
Blocker ofm, Hyacinth, Good Morning Good People – Reflections
on the Spiritual Life, The Montel Press, Cincinnati, Ohio, Second
Printing 1951
Fusarelli ofm, Massimo, Guide to the Sanctuaries
of the Rieti Valley, Manconi, Genova
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Sanctuaries page
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