The Body Worth Stealing: Why Medieval Cities Fought Over Francis of Assisi’s Corpse

When St. Francis of Assisi was near death in 1226, he joked with companions that his corpse would be practically as valuable as gold. And he was right: In medieval Europe, relics, or the physical remains of saints, weren't just symbols, they were the center of an entire economy. Cities, inns, and travel lodgings were built up around a saint’s remains, because the faithful believed they could heal diseases, end droughts, and protect cities from invasion. The blind and frail Francis was forced to travel an arduous route home to Assisi so rival Perugia couldn't capture and display his dead body for profit, and when his entombment procession finally arrived, a riot erupted as crowds attempted to dismember him for holy souvenirs. To prevent the theft of such a valuable spiritual asset, Assisi authorities buried him in a secret reinforced vault so well-hidden that after 52 nights of grueling excavation through solid rock and iron bars in 1818, workers finally rediscovered his sarcophagus—600 years after his exact location was lost to time.

Today's guest is Kathleen Brady, author of Francis and Clare: The Struggles of the Saints of Assisi. We discuss what the 1818 excavation uncovered—12 silver coins, 29 beads, a ring, and skeletal evidence of chronic illnesses including signs consistent with leprosy and severe eye infections, plus bone deformities in his feet from constant travel and ascetic lifestyle. Italy just turned Francis's feast day into a national holiday, and Assisi is now summoning the world to an exhibition of his skeletal remains—proving that eight centuries later, the restaurants and hotels still prosper from the saint who wanted to be buried in a place for criminals.

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