Saints of Assisi

The buttons on the left open pages on the individual saints.  These can be grouped as follows:

St Rufinus (died 238) was the earliest patron saint of Assisi, although his cult became important only in the 11th century.  Other saints from the Roman period are:

  • St Caesidius, his son;

  • St Victorinus, his successor; and

  • St Sabinus (shared with many Italian cities, including Spoleto).

St Francis (died 1226) is, of course, the most famous of Assisi's saints, and Assisi has for centuries attracted pilgrims wishing to venerate his relics in San Francesco and to visit other sites with which he is associated.  The other 13th century saints described here are:

  • St Clare (St Francis'  first female follower);

  • St Agnes (St Clare's sister); and

  • the somewhat shadowy St Rufinus d' Arce.

Two other saints had chapels in San Rufino:

  • St Vitalis, a 14th century hermit to whom a confraternity in Assisi was dedicated; and

  • St Emidius, patron saint of Ascoli Piceno, whose cult was revived in 1703 when Ascoli Piceno survived an earthquake that devastated much of the region.  The cult spread to Assisi and other Umbrian cities that survived the earthquake there in 1751.

The following saints were among those that had altars or chapels at San Francesco:

  • St Antony of Padua, a Franciscan and contemporary of St Francis (died 1231, canonised in Spoleto in 1232);

  • St Elizabeth of Hungary, a member of the Hungarian royal family and relation by marriage of the Emperor Frederick II (died 1228, canonised in Perugia in 1235);

  • St Stanislaus (died 1079, canonised in San Francesco in 1253); and

  • St Louis of Toulouse, a Franciscan and member of the Angevin dynasty of Naples (died 1297, canonised 1317).