The remains of St. Francis of Assisi have gone on public display for the first time, marking 800 years since the saint’s death.
The skeleton of the saint was exhumed from its sarcophagus in the crypt of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, in the central Italian town of Assisi, on Saturday morning.
The bones were then arranged on a table in the crypt before being transferred to the lower church of the basilica. Later that day, around 300 friars attended a solemn celebration of Vespers in the lower church, the basilica said in a statement.
A 13th-century Italian friar, Francis is the patron saint of Italy and was the founder of the Franciscan order of the Friars Minor.
…