In The Little Flowers of Saint Francis (Fioretti di San Francesco), one of the most famous and captivating episodes is recounted, the story in which the Saint encounters a creature that had thrown an entire town into terror.
Gubbio, around 1220. Francis, already physically weakened by the austere life he led, continued his travels. While in Gubbio, he learned that a ferocious wolf was roaming the countryside and even venturing into the town itself. The inhabitants were so afraid of being attacked that they went about armed. The animal was not only killing livestock but also threatening people, casting the whole city into fear.
The Encounter between Saint Francis and the Wolf
The Poverello, despite being advised against it, resolved to meet the beast. He left the city walls accompanied by some brothers, and soon the wolf appeared: «The said wolf came towards Saint Francis with its jaws open; and as it approached him, Saint Francis made the sign of the most holy cross and called it to him, saying: ‘Come here, Brother Wolf, I command you in the name of Christ that you harm neither me nor any person.’»
The wolf slowed down, closed its jaws, approached Francis and lay down at his feet. The Saint then spoke to it of the “evil deeds” it had committed against God’s creatures, even against men “made in the image of God”. For such acts it had deserved the gallows. Yet he continued: «But I wish, Brother Wolf, to make peace between you and these people, so that you may no longer offend them, and they may forgive you every past injury, and neither men nor dogs shall pursue you anymore.» At this, the wolf, moving its head, tail, and ears, gave a sign of assent.
The Pact of Peace between the Wolf and the City of Gubbio
Francis promised the wolf that he would ensure the people of Gubbio fed it regularly, on the condition that it would never again harm them. «Then the wolf lifted its right paw and placed it in the hand of Saint Francis.»
The story goes on to tell how the now-tamed wolf lived peacefully in Gubbio for two years. The townspeople cared for it and allowed it to enter their homes freely.
The Historical Memory of the Wolf of Gubbio
When the animal eventually died of old age, it was lovingly buried. Part of its tomb is said to survive to this day. In the crypt of the Church of San Francesco della Pace lies the stone that once covered the wolf’s grave. Discovered in 1873 not far from the church, it sealed a burial containing the skeleton of an animal which, upon examination by the veterinarian Giovanni Spinaci, was identified as belonging to a wolf.
According to tradition, the place where Francis met the wolf is the site where the Church of the Vittorina now stands, also the first Franciscan settlement in the city.
The Symbolic Meaning of the Wolf of Gubbio
Read metaphorically, the story of Saint Francis and the wolf of Gubbio offers rich interpretative possibilities. Tradition often sees in the wolf the symbolic figure of an outlaw, a brigand who made violence his way of life. Yet such behaviour, the narrative suggests, arose from need, from hunger, and from exclusion from the social fabric. This interpretation opens the way to profound reflection on how society confronts evil and conflict. The wolf represents not merely a wild animal, but violence, unchecked instinct, and, more broadly, whatever a community perceives as a threat. The people of Gubbio respond with fear and the desire to eliminate the wolf, a reaction rooted in repression. Saint Francis, by contrast, proposes an alternative path grounded in dialogue and shared responsibility. He acknowledges the wolf’s wrongdoing yet also recognises its underlying cause, hunger and marginalisation.
Through the pact between the wolf and the city, the tale suggests that evil is not overcome by destroying the other, but by integrating what is feared into a framework of shared rules and mutual obligations. Peace does not appear as a sudden miracle, but as the result of a balance patiently constructed over time, in which each party is called to change. In this sense, the metaphor remains strikingly relevant today: a just society is not one that eliminates the “wolf”, but one that seeks to understand the causes of conflict and to transform hostility into coexistence.