Letter of the Provincial Minister, Giulio Mancini To the friars, the Poor Clares and to all our friends. To all of you, dear friends, we send from the Portiuncula of Francis the fraternal greeting which is both his and ours: May the Lord give you Peace. It is time to renew our contact with you, and we're happy to be in a position to give you some good news: the reconstruction work needed at the Portiuncula is finally beginning. Just a year from the destruction and terror of the earthquake of September 26, 1998 which wrought havoc in the Franciscan homeland of Assisi, Umbria and the Marches and struck fear into our hearts, the companies which had won the reconstruction contracts began to erect their scaffolding. Work is now under way, and the deadline for its completion is the end of 1999.

In our moment of dire need we turned to you with confidence in your generosity, stretching out a begging hand. Many Provinces of the Order and many friends promptly responded to our appeal. Some did so with outstanding generosity, but all gave what they could. The amount collected exceeded 3,000,000,000 Italian Lire. Some of this had already been used for the most urgent repairs and for the restructuring of the Novitiate at San Damiano. We will provide a full statement of accounts in due course. We want to thank every one of you from the bottom of our hearts. Our community prays for you every day. When one considers the immense repair work to be carried out (Portiuncula, San Damiano, Chiesa Nuova, San Bartolomeo, etc.), our funds may seem inadequate. To us, however, they represent something great and precious: the fruit of fraternal love and solidarity, offered to Francis.

Providence helped us also in another guise - that of the Italian State. On the basis of reconstruction projects duly approved, the laws passed by the Italian Parliament concerning the provision of State funds for the Jubilee Year and for the victims of earthquake damage assigned to us ten times the money we had collected ourselves. In this way the Department for the Cultural Heritage of the State is now making amends for years of neglect towards the places which surround the Portiuncula. The early stages after the earthquake were painful and trying. The places affected by the earthquake had to be secured and sealed off. As a result, it has not been possible to celebrate the Liturgy within the Basilica. However, once they stay within the railed-off sections, it is possible for pilgrims to visit the Portiuncula. The drawing up and approval of the various reconstruction projects involved very detailed technical discussions as well as liaison with the community. The competent State bodies had to approve each separate plan, which was then put out to tender throughout the whole of Europe. And so at last we have arrived at the stage of actual reconstruction. There are three major sectors in this work: the Basilica itself (five kilometers of drilling points just to fill up the cracks left by the quake), the areas of the sanctuary which are accessible to pilgrims, and the modest pilgrim hospice. Already in July last, through sponsorship by the Egidio Galbani firm, restoration of the Portiuncula chapel itself was completed and opened to the public. From now on the Basilica itself and the adjacent area will be transformed into a work site. Access will be extremely difficult for months ahead. Our community life - we've had to squeeze ourselves into just two wings of the friary - will be even more difficult. In order to keep our liturgical prayer and sacramental service going and to welcome pilgrims we will depend in part on the large tent which is erected in front of the Basilica and in part on rooms which have been adapted for the purpose. The parish will maintain its liturgical and pastoral services in the tent and in some prefabs. The plan is to leave the repairs on the friary to the very end.

I would like to add some information about our other shrines, whose repair is still in the planning stage: At San Damiano work is fairly advanced, due to the generous offerings received, on the repair of the Novitiate. Work began in May and will be completed, we hope, during Advent. We'd love to have the novices back for Christmas! The New Year will see the beginning of work on the historic part of the friary. After that we'll concentrate on repairing the living quarters of the friars. For the Chiesa Nuova in Assisi and San Bartolomeo in Foligno we will be in a position to use a first installment of the funds set aside in the earthquake law early in '99, in order to complete some initial work. For the monastery and Basilica of St Clare (the nuns are presently staying with us in our friary of Monteripido in Perugia), a considerable sum will soon be available, with the hope of further funds from the law concerning the Great Jubilee for use in repairing the Basilica. The same is true for the Poor Clare monasteries of San Quirico in Assisi and Santa Lucia in Foligno (both communities are our guests, one at Amelia and the other in Montefalco). Even if this first installment of state funding is partial, it should be sufficient to permit the sisters to return home before the start of the Jubilee of 2,000. It's a joy for us to share this news with you, and we hope you will be happy to hear how things are going. According as the work goes ahead we will keep you informed. In this way we will keep up a contact which will foster the interest we all share in the places dear to Francis and Clare, places we maintain and serve for the Order, for Italy and for the whole world. We depend on your remembrance in prayer before the Lord. "May our God supply whatever you need, my brothers and sisters, out of the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:19). Brother Giulio Mancini, ofm Provincial Minister of the Seraphic Province

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