A special issue of *Domenica* on the saint of Assisi

Exactly 800 years have passed. By a fortuitous coincidence, the moment of the passing of Christianity’s greatest saint – indeed, the very embodiment, par excellence, of what it means to be a saint, namely Francis of Assisi – meant that the day of his death and the day of his commemoration, eight centuries later, both fell on a Sunday. These celebrations, from a religious, secular and hybrid perspective (the saint is, after all, the patron saint of Italia and will be remembered in this capacity in the solemn address to be delivered by President Mattarella on Sunday) bring together the many facets of the ‘poor man’, and to which we join with a special issue of our supplement, entirely dedicated to the multifaceted figure – brimming with iridescence and reverberations – of the saint of Assisi. On this page, for example, we preview our initiative with two possible ways of addressing the greatness of Francis: through two avenues that are equally close to our hearts, economics and art – in this case, music. The articles by Marco Allena on the ‘economy of Francis’ and by Cristiana Gattoni on how the figure of the saint is reflected in the pop and rock imagery of a star such as Patti Smith serve as a natural prologue to the content that will be presented to our readers on Sunday—in print, online and via video.

In this supplement, we shall explore Francis’s legacy through articles by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, who, on the cover, explains the spirit with which such a complex figure should be approached. The image accompanying our cover can also be seen on this page: it is St Francis as portrayed in Subiaco in 1223. It is the only portrait of the future saint whilst he was still alive, painted from life, and one which, in a figurative sense, conveys just how very much he was alive. Marina Mojana, an art historian, traces the history of that powerful image, which also tells us about the physical condition of the ‘poverello’, who returned from Egypt suffering from trachoma and with his left eye impaired. We will hear contributions from, amongst others, Davide Rondoni, poet, scholar and admirer of Francis, in his capacity as chairman of the national committee for Franciscan celebrations; Luigino Bruni, the economist who has most systematically explored the relationship between faith and economics; Carlo Ossola, president of Treccani (which is publishing an Encyclopaedia of Francis to mark the occasion), on the ‘Canticle of the Creatures’ and its influence on twentieth-century literature; other literary figures and philologists such as Piero Boitani, Lorenzo Tomasin, Giuseppe Lupo and Gino Ruozzi; whilst Francesca Rigotti examines the implications of Franciscan philosophical thought, Sara Boffito explores the psychoanalytic dimension of renouncing material possessions, and Pietro Del Soldà takes us into the realm of proto-ecology championed by the saint of Assisi. And there’s more: the spotlight is on cinema with Cristina Battocletti’s analyses of films about Francis; theatre is discussed with Maddalena Giovannelli; musicals with Angelo Curtolo; musical scores with Carla Moreni; and Franciscan and non-Franciscan communities, with articles by Stefano De Matteis, Roberto Escobar and Alessandro Zaccuri; on ‘poor man’s cuisine’ with Luca Cesari; the role played by his ‘fraticelli’ in the new book by the Franciscan scholar Sylvain Piron; mountain walks with Claudio Visentin and Carlo Ratti; his relationship with women in articles by Eliana Di Caro and Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli; and art and the local area with Cristina Acidini. In short, everyone has their own story to tell about Francis, without trivialising his message but seeking to draw out the contemporary insights it offers. This is exactly what the guests at the Franciscan Festival, recently held in Bologna to great public acclaim, did. Stefano Biolchini interviewed the various key figures, starting with Cardinal Pizzaballa, and the video interviews will be available on Sunday on the ilsole24ore.com website, in the Culture section. On the same website and on other platforms, from tomorrow, the ‘Start’ podcast – produced by yours truly – will offer you a preview of three of the articles from the supplement: those by Ossola, Del Soldà and Cesari. So, happy reading, happy listening and happy viewing.