If you visit Assisi today, you can pray at the tombs of St. Francis and St. Clare, while also visiting the first chapel built and used by the early Franciscans, as well as the crucifix from which Jesus spoke to St. Francis. The city of Assisi still retains the charm, simplicity, and peacefulness that it possessed during the time of St. Francis.

Three million people of all faiths and backgrounds each year visit Assisi, home to two of the most popular saints in the Catholic Church – St. Francis and St. Clare. In the crypt of the Basilica of St. Francis lies the tomb of the great saint (1182-1226), and nearby is the Basilica of St. Clare, which houses the body of this great woman (1194-1253). After receiving a vision in which Jesus spoke to him from a crucifix, instructing him to rebuilt his Church, St. Francis set out to live of life of poverty, devoutness, and evangelization. In doing so, he founded the Franciscan religious order, which was approved by Pope Innocent III in 1209. In 1212, St. Francis and St. Clare founded the Order of Poor Clares, a group of women who followed the teachings of St. Francis. In 1224 St. Francis received the stigmata, the five wounds of Christ – he was the first stigmatist in history. St. Francis & St. Clare lived lives of such great holiness, that they were both canonized within two years of their deaths respectively.