From a Cave, a Sanctuary
The complex known as the Eremo delle Carceri was founded and developed around the cave where Saint Francis of Assisi withdrew to pray. The Hermitage is a place of memory, kept alive by the friars who reside there today, bearing witness to the Franciscan spirit. In this wild and secluded spot, Francis conversed with God, living in close harmony with nature and immersing himself in contemplation of creation, which for him was a sign of the Father’s love. As his biographer Saint Bonaventura recalls: “considerando che tutte le cose hanno un’origine comune, si sentiva ricolmo di pietà ancora maggiore e chiamava le creature, per quanto piccole, con il nome di fratello o sorella” (“considering that all things have a common origin, he was filled with even greater piety and would call creatures, however small, by the name of brother or sister”) (Legenda Maior, VIII, 6)
Amidst a dense woodland on the slopes of Monte Subasio, at an altitude of 800 metres, lies the “Sasso di Maloloco”, a rugged and solitary site which, in Francis’s time, consist of only a few natural caves and a small chapel that the Saint dedicated to Santa Maria delle Carceri. The warm pink stone used to build the chapel, and later the entire sanctuary, blends beautifully with the surrounding greenery, creating a unique harmony within the Umbrian forest.
Freedom within the Carceri
Francis first discovered this location following his release after being taken prisoner during the battle between Perugia and Assisi in 1202. Having experienced the harshness of war first-hand, he was released after a year of captivity. He then began to seek out solitary places, where he could gather himself in silence and search for answers to his questions. Thus began his journey of conversion, during which he chose a cave in this holm oak wood, an eremitic space already used by Benedictine monks who withdrew from the world to pray.
The term Carceri here does not refer to common prisons, but derives from the Latin carcer, denoting a secluded or solitary place. It signifies the act of withdrawing into prayer in small and austere spaces such as the caves scattered throughout the forest around the Eremo, still marked today with the names of the friars who once dwelt there. For Francis, withdrawing to the Carceri meant experiencing freedom from material things, first for himself, then by sharing it with his brothers. Therefore, throughout his life he often returned to the Eremo to live in what he called the “blessed solitude of contemplation” (Franciscan Sources, 479). Shortly after his death, a form of community life flourished here, and a small convent was built to house a few friars who began to follow in Francis’s footsteps. Today, four friars still live at the Eremo delle Carceri in Assisi.
The Carceri Area
When Saint Francis “imprisoned himself” here with his followers, nothing of what we see today existed. The first part of the convent was built above the cave that had served as his refuge, and the complex was then substantially enlarged in the fifteenth century at the wish of another Franciscan saint, Bernardino da Siena (1380 – 1444).
Visitors enter through a simple, unadorned triangular courtyard, at the centre of which stands the well of Saint Francis, said to mark the spot where water miraculously sprang forth at his command. On one side of the courtyard is the fifteenth-century church, dedicated to Saint Bernardine, which houses a fresco of the Crucifixion painted in the mid-1400s, a small French stained-glass window, and another painting bearing the emblem of the Monte di Pietà. The Monte di Pietà was a charitable institution that collected funds from public or private donors to offer interest-free loans to the citizens of the city and surrounding countryside. It was founded in Perugia in 1462 by two Franciscan friars: Blessed Michele Carcano and Fra Barnaba Manassei of Terni, who is buried in the Chapel of Mary Magdalene within this sanctuary. In keeping with the community life established here, a refectory was built in the fifteenth century, where the friars would share their meals together. It remains almost perfectly preserved today.
The “Buco del Diavolo
A few steps further on stands the original church of Santa Maria delle Carceri. A staircase leads down to the narrow passage that reaches the cave of Saint Francis, where his simple stone bed can still be seen. Right outside the cave, on the floor, there is a small opening known as the “Buco del Diavolo”, through which the underlying chasm is visible. In chapter 29 of the I Fioretti di San Francesco (Little Flowers of Saint Francis), it is told that Brother Rufino, who lived here, was tormented by the deceptions of the devil. Francis advised him to respond boldly, and the Evil One, enraged by his words, fell with great uproar from the cliff of the Hermitage, leaving behind the hole that can still be seen today. This literary episode conveys a deeper meaning: though man may fall into temptation, faith patiently cultivated overcomes deception. From here one can admire the centuries-old holm oak, before which, according to tradition, Francis preached to the birds. From this spot, visitors may also begin a walk through the forest, along the very paths once trodden by the Saint and his first companions.
Wonderful Harmony
The friars continue to safeguard this sacred place, which as early as 1237 was known as the Eremo delle Carceri of Saint Francis. In his encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis recalls the Saint of Assisi in these words:
“Era un mistico e un pellegrino che viveva con semplicità e in una meravigliosa armonia con Dio, con gli altri, con la natura e con sé stesso. In lui si riscontra fino a che punto sono inseparabili la preoccupazione per la natura, la giustizia verso i poveri, l’impegno nella società e la pace interiore”. (“He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in marvellous harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. In him we see to what extent concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society and interior peace are inseparable.”)
