#st. francis basilica

[sheiruki-takes-photos]

Inside St. Francis Basilica, Assisi, Umbria, Italy, 2023

[thepastisalreadywritten]

•

[deadpresidents]

The popemobile carrying the casket of Pope Francis passes by the Colosseum in Rome en route to the pontiff's burial at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore following his funeral in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, April 26, 2025.

[periodinteriors]

Thomas Hartley Cromek, The Interior of the Lower Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, 1839, watercolor.

[egg24108]

hey guys

[timmurleyart]

Exquisite St Peter’s Basilica. 🇻🇦🔔

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Angela Giuffrida at The Guardian:

The funeral of Pope Francis will be held on Saturday at St Peter’s Square, the Vatican said on Tuesday, as a host of world leaders and royals including Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump and the Prince of Wales confirmed their attendance. The pope, the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, died at his home in the Vatican on Monday aged 88 after a stroke. He had been recovering from double pneumonia for which he was hospitalised for five weeks. His death certificate, released by the Vatican, said the stroke caused a coma and “irreversible” heart failure. A Vatican official recounted some of his last moments on Tuesday, saying his death came quickly and he did not suffer. Francis fell ill at about 5.30am on Monday and was attended to by his team of medics. He later fell into a coma and died at 7.35am. The funeral mass will begin at 10am local time and will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals, in what is expected to be a solemn ceremony.

Photographs of Francis’ body, dressed in his vestments, holding a rosary and lying in an open coffin in the chapel of his home at Casa Santa Marta, were released by the Vatican on Tuesday. His coffin will be taken to St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning in a procession led by cardinals. He will remain there until 7pm on Friday, to allow the public to pay their respects. The basilica will remain open until midnight on Wednesday and Thursday. As confirmed by Francis in his final testament, he will be buried at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, breaking with longstanding Vatican tradition. He specified that he wanted to be buried “in the ground, without particular decoration” but with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus. The cost of his burial will be covered by a sum provided by a benefactor, which Francis transferred to the basilica, he wrote in his will.

Popes are usually buried with much fanfare in the grottoes beneath St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, but Francis – loved by many Catholics for his humility – simplified rites for papal funerals last year. [...]

Traditional papal funerals involved three coffins, one made out of cypress wood, one of lead and one of elm, which were placed one inside the other before the body was placed inside and then buried beneath St Peter’s. But Francis shunned these rituals when he approved the simplified rules in April 2024. People will still be able to see his body in the basilica, but his remains will be placed in one simple coffin made of wood and lined with zinc, and will not be raised on a platform. Francis almost died twice in February during treatment for severe pneumonia at Gemelli hospital in Rome. He was discharged on 23 March and ordered by doctors to rest for at least two months. Although his work duties were vastly scaled back, he made several appearances in recent weeks, including a visit to St Peter’s Basilica to thank the restorers finishing work on the 17th-century tomb of Pope Urban VIII. On Easter Sunday, he entered St Peter’s Square in the popemobile before giving a blessing from the central balcony of the basilica.

The funeral for the late Pope Francis will be held on Saturday at St. Peter’s Basilica. The funeral will be a lot less gaudy than other papal funerals, in respect to the late pontiff’s message of simplicity.

[ukdamo]

Assisi

Norman MacCaig

The dwarf with his hands on backwards sat, slumped like a half-filled sack on tiny twisted legs from which sawdust might run, outside the three tiers of churches built in honour of St Francis, brother of the poor, talker with birds, over whom he had the advantage of not being dead yet.

A priest explained how clever it was of Giotto to make his frescoes tell stories that would reveal to the illiterate the goodness of God and the suffering of His Son. I understood the explanation and the cleverness.

A rush of tourists, clucking contentedly, fluttered after him as he scattered the grain of the Word. It was they who had passed the ruined temple outside, whose eyes wept pus, whose back was higher than his head, whose lopsided mouth said Grazie in a voice as sweet as a child’s when she speaks to her mother or a bird’s when it spoke to St Francis.

[ricisidro]

The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is a historical and spiritual landmark, reflecting centuries of Christian faith and artistic heritage.

This is the history of the Basilica St. Mary Major and why Pope Francis chose this to be his final resting place.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Santa-Maria-Maggiore-church-Rome-Italy

[mybeautiful-escape]

[rabbitcruiser]

All Saints’ Day

All Saints’ Day is a Christian festival [actually a Catholic holiday] that honors saints, and also celebrates the victory of Christ over death. The definition of saints and those who are being honored on the day are often looked at differently in Catholic and various Protestant churches.

In the Catholic Church, the day is seen as honoring saints that don’t have their own day of celebration. Many Protestants use the day to honor all Christians, both past and present. The day takes place on November 1 in Western churches in Europe and the Americas, such as in Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, and some other Protestant churches. It is part of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church and is a Principal Feast in the Anglican Church. It takes place a day before All Souls’ Day and a day after All Hallows’ Eve, commonly known as Halloween. Many Eastern churches observe the day on the first Sunday after Pentecost.The day begins with Vespers on All Hallows’ Eve, and the days’ observation lasts for the duration of November 1. In some congregations, a candle is lit or a bell is rung, and the names of congregants who have passed away in the previous year are read. Other prayers and readings may take place on the day. Various customs take place in different countries, such as offerings being made and graves being visited. It is a national holiday in some countries that are predominantly Catholic, but it is not in the United States.The roots of the day go back to the early Christian church. In the late fourth or early fifth century, days dedicated to all saints began being celebrated.

These days were held on different dates in different places. An All Saints’ Day began being celebrated in the British Isles at the beginning of the eighth century, possibly along with or to replace Samhain, a Celtic festival. However, some believe the choice of November 1 for the date was a Germanic idea, not being tied to the Celtic holiday. In 835 CE, Pope Gregory IV officially set the date of the holiday to November 1. After the Reformation, many churches that broke off from the Catholic Church continued to celebrate the day. In some of these churches, it is not always celebrated exactly on November 1, instead being observed on a Saturday or Sunday near it.All Saints’ Day, also known as All Hallows’ Day, All Hallows Tide, Feast of All Saints, Hallowmas, and Solemnity of All Saints, is being observed today! It has always been observed annually on November 1st.

If you are of the Christian faith, you could observe the day by attending a church service and visiting graves of loved ones who have since passed. There are various other ways the day could be observed, such as by having an All Saints’ Day party or learning about saints. If you are not religious, you could still have an All Saints’ Day party and eat some traditional foods associated with the day.

Source

[thepastisalreadywritten]

•

[deadpresidents]

First images of Pope Francis in his casket during the official ascertainment of his death by Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Farrell in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta at the Vatican, April 21, 2025.

Prior to his death, Pope Francis simplified the burial ceremonies traditionally held for popes. Instead of his body lying in state on an elevated platform in St. Peter's Basilica for the public viewing, Francis will be displayed in an open casket. Following his funeral on Saturday, April 26th, Francis will be buried in a simple tomb in the ground ("without particular ornamentation, and bearing only the inscription: Franciscus") at Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (Basilica of Saint Mary Major), about four kilometers outside of Vatican City. Francis will be the first Pope to be buried somewhere other than St. Peter's Basilica since Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903.

[postcardsfromwanderings]

The Basilica of St. Francis at dusk, Assisi, Umbria

[firstoccupier]

A Historic First: Pope Leo XIV Ushers in a New Era for the Catholic Church

(The Sun) In a moment that stunned the world, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago was elected as the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on May 8, 2025. Taking the name Leo XIV, he becomes the first American and the first member of the Augustinian order to ascend to the papacy. His election marks a significant milestone, breaking centuries-old traditions and signaling a new chapter…

[dailymore-news]

Pope Francis’s Funeral in Vatican City Tomorrow

Pope Francis’s funeral mass is scheduled for Saturday, April 26. It will take place at 10:00 AM Central European Time in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. The date and time were set by the College of Cardinals, following the pontiff’s death on Monday at age 88​. In accordance with the late Pope’s wishes, a simple ceremony is being planned. His body will be laid to rest in a plain wooden coffin.…