The Passage of Saint Francis and the Franciscan Era
At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the monastery was entrusted to the Franciscan Friars, marking the beginning of an important spiritual chapter. The site became particularly significant for the Order because of the presence of Saint Francis of Assisi, who stayed here on several occasions in search of prayer and contemplation.
Faithful to his ideal of radical poverty, Francis refused to live within the convent buildings, preferring instead a natural cavity formed by two split boulders adjacent to the church. Here, a large travertine stone can still be seen today, known as the Lectulus Beati Francisci (Bed of Blessed Francis), as recorded by the inscription carved into the rock.
In 1291, Pope Nicholas IV granted indulgences to the church, officially recognising its importance as a religious centre. The convent remained a flourishing Franciscan community for four centuries, until the mid-seventeenth century.
The complex was restored by the Franciscans in 1635, but only a few years later it went into rapid decline. In 1653, Pope Innocent X ordered its suppression because the community had dwindled to only eight friars. The convent’s possessions were transferred to the parish of Santa Maria dell’Olmo in Amelia, which entrusted the site to a hermit. Religious services continued to be celebrated monthly by the Capuchin friars of Lugnano in Teverina until 1869, when the church was declared unsafe and worship ceased.
After a long period of abandonment, recent restoration work has brought dignity and life back to both the hermitage and the church, allowing this remarkable place to flourish once again as a destination for pilgrims, scholars, walkers and enthusiasts of slow tourism.
Blessed Pascuccio
Over the centuries, the hermitage welcomed numerous men renowned for their deep spirituality: Giovanni Tientalbene of the noble Atti family of Todi, who died here in 1032; Brother Juniper, companion of Saint Francis; and Blessed Giovanni of Alviano and Giovanni of Avellino.
Among them, the figure most beloved by the local population remains Blessed Pascuccio. Although never officially canonised by the Church, he is honoured as blessed through popular devotion and is celebrated every year in mid-June.
Born around 1435 and, like his predecessor, a member of the Atti family of Todi, Pascuccio entered the Order of Friars Minor as a lay brother before retiring to the Hermitage of Saint Illuminata. There he spent a life devoted to prayer and penance, interrupted only by journeys undertaken to comfort the suffering and to reconcile disputes among the powerful Baschi, Chiaravalle and Atti families. One of the most famous episodes associated with Blessed Pascuccio is the story of the wolf. One day, while gathering firewood, he witnessed a wolf kill the donkey that accompanied him. Rather than reacting with anger, the friar spoke so gently to the animal that he tamed it; the wolf then took the donkey’s place and helped Pascuccio carry the wood.
Following his death in 1485, popular devotion to him grew rapidly. The faithful would visit his tomb, located within the hermitage church, asking for his intercession to obtain divine favours. His remains, stolen during the period of abandonment and later recovered through the intervention of Pope Pius VII, are now preserved in the parish church of Guardea, where Blessed Pascuccio is venerated as the town’s patron saint.
The Lost Church: A Nineteenth-Century Memory
A valuable testimony left by Don Salvatore Luzi, parish priest of Guardea from 1873 to 1925, provides a vivid picture of the church before its collapse. He described the building as extremely simple in its architecture, perfectly reflecting both its eremitic function and the spirituality of the religious communities that had inhabited it over the centuries.
The interior consisted of a single nave and was free from unnecessary decoration. Near the high altar stood a deteriorated painting of the Crucifixion flanked by two Franciscan saints. In the apse there were also images of Saint Andrew and Saint Illuminata, together with scenes depicting the miracles of Blessed Pascuccio.
The church contained at least one side altar decorated with representations of the Annunciation, Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Apollonia. An iron grille protected the remains of the four blessed men who had lived in the monastery.
Over time, the building also became a burial place for distinguished families from Guardea, Baschi and Alviano. Within a walled chapel stood the sarcophagus of a noblewoman named Penthesilea, possibly identifiable as Penthesilea Baglioni, wife of Bartolomeo d’Alviano.
The Cave, the Water and Miraculous Healings
For centuries, pilgrims lay on the stone that served as Saint Francis’s bed. Its surface, worn smooth by time, feels almost velvet-like to the touch. This stone has long been credited with thaumaturgic powers capable of curing numerous illnesses.
A sixteenth-century episcopal visitation records that a small quantity of water dripped daily from the ceiling of the cave. This water, too, was believed to possess miraculous properties, particularly in the treatment of eye diseases, from which Saint Francis himself suffered.
Near the cave there was also a spring that was venerated and mentioned in ancient documents as a miraculous source of water. The spring still exists today, although it is now largely hidden by vegetation.
