One of the earliest pilgrims to witness the revered remains of St. Francis was Brother Marco Borgioli, a Franciscan friar from Florence. He arrived in Assisi early on a Sunday, just as dawn broke over the ancient hilltop town.
He wasn’t alone. As Brother Marco approached the basilica, he found hundreds of people of all ages gathered. He remarked, “It’s striking that after 800 years, Francis is alive. He’s not a museum, he’s alive, and he touches people’s hearts.”
To commemorate the 800th anniversary of the saint’s death, the bones believed to be his were solemnly moved on Saturday from a crypt at the basilica named in his honor. They were then brought to the church above, where they will be exhibited for a month.
While objects belonging to St. Francis have been displayed at the basilica for a long time, his actual remains, meticulously preserved in a nitrogen-filled plexiglass case, have been shown to the public only once before, during a brief period in 1978.
“So many people love Francis, all over the world,” explained Brother Marco Moroni, the custodian of the Franciscan convent connected to the basilica. “So why not allow many people the opportunity to share this joy?”
According to the convent, nearly 400,000 individuals have already booked a time slot to see the relics of one of Christianity’s most cherished saints. Many more are expected to arrive without reservations, which is creating some concern for Valter Stoppini, Assisi’s mayor. He faces the challenge of accommodating pilgrims seeking a once-in-a-lifetime experience while managing the impact on the town’s 28,000 residents, who are accustomed to tourist influxes, but not a month-long “siege.”
“I hope to survive,” Mr. Stoppini quipped.
Assisi has been a pilgrimage destination since St. Francis died there in 1226, after establishing a religious order that expanded globally. Visitors are drawn to the basilica, a rich repository of 13th- and 14th-century art. In recent times, younger devotees have also been visiting to pray to Carlo Acutis, the Roman Catholic Church’s first millennial saint, who passed away in 2006, was canonized last year, and is also interred in Assisi.
However, St. Francis remains the town’s primary draw, particularly for Italians. Many consider him their nation’s patron saint and a fundamental part of their identity.
Aldo Cazzullo, author of a popular book about St. Francis published in 2025, refers to him as “the first Italian.” Mr. Cazzullo highlights that St. Francis penned the Canticle of the Creatures, widely regarded as the first poem written in Italian. He further described the saint as the “precursor of humanism, which is the great gift that we Italians have given to civilization.”
Even Italy’s beloved cappuccino, its “national beverage,” reportedly has ties to St. Francis, according to Mr. Cazzullo. Marco d’Aviano, a 17th-century friar of the Capuchin order (part of the Franciscan tradition), is credited with inventing it by adding milk to coffee.
Historian Alessandro Barbero, who also wrote a bestseller on the saint, noted that “depending on the centuries, both civil authorities and the church did everything they could to make Italians feel that they were in some way the proprietors of St. Francis.”
For instance, when Pope Pius XII designated St. Francis as the patron saint of Italy in 1939, Mussolini’s government made his feast day, October 4, a national holiday. Although it was revoked in 1977, Parliament reinstated it last year with a rare near-unanimous vote.
St. Francis’s enduring message, particularly his advocacy for peace and environmental protection, continues to inspire modern causes. Since 1961, thousands have participated in periodic peace marches from Perugia to Assisi. Even Pope Francis, who chose his papal name in honor of the saint, titled his impactful encyclical on climate change “Laudato Si,” or “Praise be to You,” a direct reference to the Canticle of the Creatures.
Brother Marco, the convent’s custodian, acknowledged the immense interest in seeing the remains but stated that a month of public viewing was the maximum the friars could manage. “It’s been much more complicated than we imagined,” he said, citing the need for heightened security and additional medical staff.
St. Francis was buried in the basilica in 1230, but the exact location of his remains remained unknown for centuries. A tomb believed to be his was discovered in 1818, and following an investigation, Pope Pius VII confirmed that the bones belonged to the saint. Since then, the remains have been exhumed only a few times, primarily for verification and private prayer by the friars. The public’s access was limited to the brief 1978 viewing.
Now, the world has been invited, with an estimated 1,500 visitors per hour. Emerging from the basilica on Sunday, Cristina Berretta, a teacher from nearby Bastia Umbra, noted the swift movement of the line, explaining it was “to give everyone the chance to pay special homage.” She believed this was fitting for such a “historic event,” hoping it would leave a lasting spiritual impact. St. Francis, she said, “can bring us back to a message of peace. We all hope that this event will awaken everyone’s spirit.”