San Francesco (1228 - 53)
On 29 April 1228, in a papal bull "Recolentes qualiter", Pope Gregory IX announced his intention to build a "special church" to house the relics of "blessed Francis of holy memory". He called for donations and granted an indulgence of 40 days to those who made them. The Pope canonised St Francis at San Giorgio (see Santa Chiara) on 16th July 1228 and laid the
foundation stone of the new church on the following day.
The Pope was in fact embroiled in a political dispute with the Emperor Frederick II
at this time. Imperial sympathisers had forced him from Rome, and bull "Recolentes qualiter" was issued at Rieti. He
spent about two weeks in Assisi from 26th May, 1228 and then took up residence in Perugia, where he stayed until it was safe to return to Rome in February, 1230.
A month before "Recolentes qualiter", Simone di Pucciarello had donated land for the church on the "Collis Inferni", a rocky promontory close to (although outside) the city walls. Brother Elias, who had failed to be re-elected as Minister General in 1227, received the land on behalf of the Pope. Monaldo di Leonardo donated land adjoining the original plot soon after.
In a series of bulls in the two years after "Recolentes qualiter", the Pope formally took San Francesco under papal protection and designated it as the “caput et mater” (literally head and mother) of the Franciscan Order. The original "Collis Inferni" might have meant either "lower hill" or "infernal hill"; in his bulls, the Pope renamed it "Collis Paradisi", the "hill of paradise".
There are relatively few firm points of reference for the chronology of the construction of San Francesco:
The relics of St Francis were translated to the church from San Giorgio on (or perhaps just before) 25th May 1230. (See the page on the crypt of San Francesco for the events of that day).
Following his re-election as Minister General in 1232, Brother Elias also began a vigorous campaign to collect funds for the construction project from the various provinces of the Order, causing offence to those friars who wanted to follow St Francis in eschewing contact with money.
Gregory IX celebrated mass outside San Francesco (because of the size of the crowd) on the Feast of St Francis (4th October) 1235.
In 1236, Brother Elias commissioned a Crucifix from Giunta Pisano, probably for the upper church.
The inscriptions on two bells (now lost) that were manufactured for the campanile revealed that Brother Elias commissioned them in 1239, during the reigns of Pope Gregory IX and the Emperor Frederick II.
A reasonable hypothesis is that construction was carried out in three phases:
The apse and nave of the lower church, together with the burial chamber for the relics of St Francis, were probably complete at the time of the translation (25th March 1253).
The roof of the lower church was lowered and vaulted, and the the two transepts (the main transept and the entrance transept, which was probably originally a narthex) were before the construction of the upper church.
The upper church was probably largely completed by the time that Elias was finally deposed in May 1239.
A bust of a crowned head (presumably that of the Emperor) survives on the exterior wall of the left transept, strengthening the hypothesis that the major part of the construction was carried out in the period 1230-9, a period when there was comparative peace between the Pope and the Emperor. In 1238, as tension mounted once more, the Pope sent Elias to negotiate with the Emperor at Cremona. These efforts failed and the Emperor was once again excommunicated at Easter, 1239. After his deposition, Elias remained as the Guardian of San Francesco during May - December 1239, presumably completing the construction, before defecting to the Imperial court.
The apparent hiatus in activity after Elias' deposition is easily explained by the deteriorating political situation:
open warfare between the papacy and the Emperor Frederick II resumed;
Pope Gregory IX died in 1241;
the papal throne remained vacant for most of the following two years; and
Pope Innocent IV lived in the safety of Lyons from 1244 until 1251, when he returned to Italy after the Emperor's death (1250).
Pope Innocent IV spent the period November 1251 - April 1253 at Perugia before moving to Assisi for the following six months. It seems reasonable to assume that he found San Francesco essentially complete but undecorated at that time, and that the subsequent embellishment of the basilica started at his instigation. Again, there are relatively few firm points of reference for the chronology:
The Commune donated land in front of the two churches for two piazze in October 1246.
Pope Innocent IV consecrated the upper and the lower churches on 25th May 1253.
In the bull "Decit et expedit" (10th July 1253) the Pope directed Filippo di Campello to complete the construction and decoration of San Francesco, and allowed the use of oblations made at San Francesco over the following 25 years for the purpose.
The Pope canonised St Stanislaus in the lower church on 17th August 1253.