Chiesa di San Francesco
Rieti, IT
After the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, the church of San Francesco is the second oldest church dedicated to the cult of St. Francis. In addition to the church, the complex includes a convent and a small oratory dedicated to St Bernardino. During his visit to Rieti in 1210, Francis of Assisi built a small oratory for the care of the sick, located next to the existing hospital of Santa Croce. The saint's followers gathered around this oratory, which gradually grew over the years, giving rise to the first settlement of the conventual Franciscan Friars Minor in the town. After the death and canonisation of Francis, the Franciscan community of Rieti acquired a church, which was authorised by a papal bull promulgated in 1245 by Pope Innocent IV. The construction of the building began in the same year and was completed in 1253. The convent was closed during the Napoleonic era, definitively abolished in 1866 and given to the municipality of Rieti in 1873.