Tomb of St Francis

Day 11 St. Francis Basilica
We rode the bus a few minutes up the hill to the basilica built to honor St. Francis, though entirely contrary to his ideals of complete poverty. St. Francis was canonized only two years after he died in 1228. The basilica was started almost immediately. His body was kept in the valley until the basilica was done. It now lies in a simple stone box about eight feet above an alter in the lowest level of the basilica. Quite by luck we stumbled on a mass in English, conducted by a priest who was guiding a group of about 200 college students from a Franciscan college in - are you ready for this - Ohio. They had a guitar and sang many of the same songs we sing, including "You are My All In All". George was thinking Joanne might take the final leap back into "the one true faith", she was so moved by this experience.