Hundreds of pilgrims lined up before dawn on Sunday to be among the first to pray before the exposed relics of St. Francis in his basilica in Assisi, Italy. The saint’s bones will lie in a glass box through March 22 — fully visible outside the stone tomb in a crypt where they usually rest — as hundreds of thousands of people venerate the holy remains.
A highly organized system with QR code reservations allowed approximately 750 people to enter the lower church of the basilica every 30 minutes through most of the day Feb. 22 to view the saint.
Filing past 13th- and 14th-century frescoes by Cimabue and Giotto, pilgrims on the chilly but sunny winter day approached the glass case, protected by a plexiglass barrier. Some were overwhelmed with emotion as they had the opportunity to stand a foot away from what still exists of St. Francis on earth 800 years after his death, according to Jacob Stein.
Stein, the creator of “Crux Stationalis” blog and part of the social media team of EWTN News, was among the first group to arrive at the church. Despite the crowds, he described the atmosphere in Assisi and in the presence of the relics as prayerful and unrushed. Inside the basilica, where cellphone use was forbidden, friars gently recalled the pilgrims to silent recollection when voices got above a whisper. People knelt before St. Francis and kissed the glass and left their written prayers in boxes shared by the Franciscans.
“My prayer afterwards was to the wounds of Christ, to honor them,” Stein said, referring to St. Francis’ stigmata. This moment helps you to understand that the devotion for St. Francis is because of “his conformity to Christ as a complete and utter example to follow.”
