San Francesco is a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

-style,

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church in central

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

, Italy.

History

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

friars were present in Modena early, by 1221, when Francis was still alive. But as was their custom, their first monastery and church were located outside of town, in an area prone to flooding, and it was decided to move to this site in 1244, and began construction of a monastery and a church dedicated to the recently canonized

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...

. Construction took nearly two centuries, requiring reconstructions prior to completion. In 1501, the bell-tower was damaged by an earthquake. Reconstruction occurred in the church starting in 1535, causing the destruction of the lateral chapels and movement of the choir into the apse behind the altar, and covering much of the previous painted decoration. It was used by the Frati Minori, but they were expelled in 1774 by the Ducal authorities, who reduced the city to five parishes. By the late 18th-century had been devolved into use as stables and housing for animals. It was reconsecrated to cult in 1829, with refurbishment and restoration in a Gothic style by Gusmano Soli. A second neo-gothic refurbishment was pursued between 1886-1888 by Carlo Barbieri. The exterior brick facade has a large rose window. The 16th-century bell tower has an octagonal base. The interior was noted to have an 1840 monument celebrating the ebbing of the

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

epidemic in Modena, sculpted by

Luigi Mainoni is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

. In the left apse, there is a large terracotta statuary group of thirteen statues depicting a ''Deposition from the Cross'' (1531) by

Antonio Begarelli Antonio Begarelli, also known as Begarino (1499–1565) was an Italian sculptor. He was born at Modena, and is said to have been instructed by Giovanni dell'Abbate, the father of the painter Niccolò. Begarelli worked chiefly in Modena, where m ...

. In the choir of the nave, is a canvas depicting ''Saint Francis receiving the stigmata'' by

Adeodato Malatesta Adeodato Malatesta (May 6, 1806 – December 24, 1891) was an Italian painter, trained in a grand Neoclassical style, depicting mostly of sacred and historic subjects. Biography He was born in Modena. His father was a captain in the Granducal ar ...

. The organ is from the end of the 19th century. In the little square on the right of Saint Francis, the fountain represents the Saint sculpted by Giuseppe Graziosi. The original organ was built by Giovanni Cipri of Ferrara, but replaced by an organ, now in the counter facade made by the Benedetti of Desenzano.Parish of San Francesco
historical entry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francesco Modena Roman Catholic churches in Modena Gothic architecture in Emilia-Romagna 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy 1829 establishments in Italy