Description
Discovering Sacred Spaces and Fascinating Places in the Life of St. Francis of Assisi
Teresa Tomeo with forward by Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio, “Dr. Italy”
The number of saints who were either born in Italy or are buried there is staggering. They range from the apostles Peter and Paul in the first century to St. Carlo Acutis in the twenty-first.
But amid this veritable parade of Italian saints throughout the centuries, there is something unique about St. Francis of Assisi. Pope Pius XII, echoing the sentiment of many, called Francis “the most Italian of saints and the saintliest of Italians.” I don’t know of anyone other than the Lord Himself who has inspired more people than St. Francis has in the last eight hundred years. Francis somehow embodies both the beauty of the gospel and the charm of Italy in a way that appeals to people of diverse nations, religions, and epochs.
What I love about this guide, written on the occasion of the jubilee year for the eight hundredth anniversary of Francis’s death, is that it so beautifully speaks about so many of the Franciscan places that I know and love so well: the hillside town of Assisi, where saints Francis and Clare grew up; the mountaintop hermitage of the Carceri, where the friars retreated for prayer; San Damiano, rebuilt by St. Francis’s own hands; Gubbio, where Francis tamed a ravaging wolf; and the Portiuncula in the valley, where he died.
But what I love even more about this guide is that it makes me want to see the Franciscan sites that I’ve yet to visit: Greccio, where St. Francis erected the first living nativity scene, and Mount La Verna, where he received the stigmata.
One of the reasons St. Francis is so quintessentially Italian is that he is so passionate. That is why this book is a such a treasure — because it written with the necessary Italian passion to do justice both to Italy and to its most passionate saint.
Paperback. 253 pages
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