San Francesco is a Gothic-style, deconsecrated

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church located on Piazza San Francesco in the medieval center of the city of

Rieti Rieti (; , Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina region. T ...

, region of

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

, Italy.

History

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italians, Italian Mysticism, mystic, poet and Friar, Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Chris ...

himself in his travels through the center of Italy had spent time in this region, and by 1217 was said to have founded four oratories, which subsequently became sanctuaries respectively: Fonte Colonna, Greccio, Poggio Bustone and della Foresta. He also putatively founded the Convent at Labro. The initial construction of this church, attached to a hospital, was noted by a bull of

Pope Innocent IV Pope Innocent IV (; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universities of Parma and Bolo ...

in 1245. In 1463, attached the church, the chapel of the Holy Cross was rededicated as the Oratory of St Bernardino . Putatively this occurred after

Bernardino of Siena Bernardino of Siena, Order of Friars Minor, OFM (Bernardine or Bernadine; 8 September 138020 May 1444), was an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic priest and Franciscan missionary preacher in Italy. He was a systematizer of Scholasticism, ...

in 1444 miraculously healed the daughter of a townsman Giovanni D'Antonio Petruccio. In 1860, the church and adjacent monastery were suppressed and used as barracks. In 1898, the commune granted the church again to the ''Order of the Pia Unione'' though limited it use in church services. Many of the interior frescoes were detached. The apse retains six scenes of a larger series: ''Dream of

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III (; born Lotario dei Conti di Segni; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most power ...

'', ''Miracle of the Presepe of the Greccio'', ''Vision of the Car of Fire'', ''Vision of the Thrones'', ''Healing of the Ill man of Lerida'', and ''Freeing the heretic Peter from Jail''. The church also has a restored canvas depicting ''Madonna and Child between Saints Francis and Elizabeth of Hungary'' by Vincenzo Manenti. The organ was restored by Francesco Tessicini in 1843.Office of the Government of Rieti
entry on church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francesco Rieti Roman Catholic churches in Lazio Gothic architecture in Lazio

Francesco Francesco, the Italian language, Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis (given name), Francis", is one of the List of most popular given names, most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name inclu ...