Franciscan Sanctuaries

Portiuncula

PART TWO … THE PLACE WE VISIT TODAY

There are many stories of the first days of the friars at the Portiuncula. As we enter the Basilica, built in the 16th Century to preserve the little church, we see a plan that describes what could have been the way they managed to live their new life. Each friar built himself a little hut beside the church, the centre of their worship. But our eyes are drawn to the little chapel, now adorned with frescos, that depict the legend of Mary and her retinue of angels. Going into the tiny church we rub our hands on the stones, no longer rough, but now smoothed by the hands of countless pilgrims. The altar gleams with immaculate linen, the gold of tabernacle and precious objects. Deep silence pervades the prayer of those inside.

Today’s pilgrim, however, wants to walk in the footsteps of St Francis and his first companions. We set off on our quest.

Near the side door we see a small plaque on the wall for Peter of Catanio, one of the first companions, who is buried there. Opposite is the chapel of the Transitus, the place where Francis died. Knowing that Sister Death was approaching he asked to be carried to the Portiuncula and laid on the earth there. It was in this little cell near the chapel that he was laid. Here his first companions gathered round him for his last testament and blessing; here he composed his last letter to Clare; here he received Lady Jacopa who had come with his favourite cakes and the cloths for his burial. When his body was being washed after death all saw the stigmata that he had borne during his last years. A beautiful statue in enamelled terracotta by Andrew Della Robbia stands behind the altar – “Love is not loved” is its title. At the side is an old door from the time of Francis and in a glass case a cord that he wore.

We walk down a passage into the area where the first little huts were. Here is a statue of Francis with two doves nesting in his arms. They recall the story when he asked a peasant going to market to give him the birds being to save their lives. In the garden we see the thorn bushes spattered with red spots – they are there to remind us of the incident when Francis rolled in the thorns to help him withstand a temptation to abandon his vocation. There is a lovely statue of Francis with a lamb in this same garden. This lamb was a gift that Francis received. The lamb used to go to prayers with the friars.

At the end of this passage we come to Francis’ cell where he took his rest or spent whole nights in prayer. But the huts made of branches of trees and daubed with mud were fragile and did not last long. Evidence of more substantial buildings has been discovered under the main altar of the Basilica., and, even in Francis’ day, the friars had begun to live there. In the 14th and 15th century a hermitage of more permanent nature was built near the Portiuncula.

Many Franciscan saints lived there including St Bernadine of Siena. Today we can visit this hermitage with its cells of famous friars. When the new Basilica was built in the 16th Century over the little chapel much of the evidence of the primitive structures was lost.

As we retrace our steps we again visit the beautiful Basilica, the parish church for this area called Santa Maria degli Angeli. Around the little church of the Portiuncula occur all the functions of an ordinary parish—baptisms, marriages, funerals. So in order to preserve the atmosphere of prayer, small chapels are set aside for Prayer of the Church, led by the Franciscan friars’ community, and for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Clearly, even though the Portiuncula is the busy focus for countless pilgrims, it remains a place of prayer. It was the location of the historic meeting of the world’s religions led by Pope John Paul II.

Outside the church there is a long piazza stretching down to the main road. Many trees have been planted there to give the appearance of that woodland within which Francis came upon the little ruined church, and decided to repair it. From his momentous decision flows the esteem and love that all Franciscans have for this sacred place. We Missionary Franciscan Sisters can claim a remembrance here: when several houses were demolished to open this wooded area, we donated our little community house in the quarter.

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