Dedication of the Patriarchal Basilica
of Our Holy Father St. Francis at Assisi,
and Commemoration of the
Transfer of the Body of St. Francis

 

This feast and commemoration are observed by all the branches of the Franciscan Order. When St. Francis died in 1226, he was buried in the Church of St. George in Assisi (now a chapel in Santa Chiara, and the shrine of the original San Damiano crucifix.) Two years later St. Francis was solemnly canonized, and the building of San Francesco at the other end of the town was begun. In May, 1230, the body of the saint was transferred to the new church; and in 1253, on the anniversary of the transfer, Pope Innocent IV consecrated the Church of San Francesco. Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758) raised it to the rank of a patriarchal basilica and papal chapel.