St. Francis of Assisi remains one of the most influential religious figures in Western history. He famously renounced his family’s wealth to live an itinerant life of poverty in service to God, preached the Gospel to all who would listen (including animals), performed miracles, championed peace, fraternity and care for creation and founded the Franciscan order.
The saint’s remains are interred in the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, one of Europe’s most important Christian pilgrimage sites. Built into the side of a hill in Umbria, where criminals once swung from gallows, it was founded on July 17, 1228, when Pope Gregory IX laid its foundation stone just one day after he canonized Francis.
