he history of its erection seems to have something legendary, had we not the documents that bear witness to its truth.
Six months after the death of the Poverello, in March 1227, the friars, on behalf of Pope Gregorio IX, were presented by Simone di Pucciarello from Assisi with the hill situated on the west of the town, called the lower hill because of its location. According to legend that place, ill-reputed because of the executions by gallows, was chosen by Francis himself as his burial ground; in the following year, Monaldo di Leonardo in his turn gave the wood that covers the northern slope of the hill as a present. A few days later, on July 16th 1228, Gregorio IX canonized Saint Francis and the day after blessed and laid on the infamous place, newly christened “the Hill of paradise”, the first stone of the church destined to hold the holy body.
Its removal occurred on May 25th 1230 and the remains of the Saint were put into a sarcophagus in the bare rock below the high altar. It had taken only two years to build on the steep slope the large crypt that forms the lower church and, since in 1236 Giunta Pisano had ended the big Crucifix , meant for the superior church, and in 1239 the bell tower, for which the bells were already being melted, had been finished, too, it is natural to think that on that date the superior church had already been completed. After May 1253, following the “breve” of Innocenzo IV, who came to consecrate the Sanctuary, the finishing works were resumed in the upper church.
From 1269 onwards, when Assisi started to be visited by crowds of pilgrims longing for the indulgence of forgiveness, the transept of the entrance was widened and the side-chapels of the lower church were built.
Only later in 1818 did the excavations, authorized by the Pope also inside the Church, bring to light the sepulchre of the Saint, set below the high altar. The need to give the remains of the Saint, found at last, a home worth the veneration it called for , led to the building of a crypt, which started a little after the discovery of the corpse. That crypt was opened to the public in 1824 with the name of “Tomb”, to differentiate it from the original one. The tomb was shaped into the rock below the Lower Church and, above the altar erected in this tomb visitors can see a stone sarcophagus deprived of any ornaments where the dead body of the Saint lies down.
Between 1928 and 1932 updating works were carried out under the direction of architect Tarchi, who remade the Tomb using the same limestone used for building the Basilica and adopted the simple and austere style known as ”catacomb-like”.
Gherard Ruf
O.F.M.CONV
