On the Eighth Centenary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi (1226-2026), the International Conference of "Francis and History. Between novitas and traditio" is jointly promoted by three institutions – the Higher School of Medieval and Franciscan Studies of the Pontifical University "Antonianum", the Italian Historical Institute for the Middle Ages and the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences – which include among their major study and research interests the historical investigation of religious life in the Middle Ages in its diversified and multiform expressions, among which the biographical, institutional and hagiographic story of St Francis of Assisi stands out for its paradigmatic character and for its centuries-old and still very vivid memorial echo.
The International Study Symposium aims to revisit the figure, work, and legacy of Francis of Assisi in a broad and articulated historical, institutional, and literary context, in order to fully grasp both his specific, singular and unprecedented charismatic figure and the tangencies and resonances with the complex foundational, canonical and narrative experimentation of medieval religious life.
A comparative and diachronic rereading of St Francis of Assisi in continuity and discontinuity with medieval religious experimentation allows us to appreciate ever better its exceptional significance, in the dynamic relationship between novitas and traditio in the sequela Christi, which, in the testimony of St Francis, knows a sublime point of arrival and a continuous and fruitful restart.
The appointments:
25th May: Auditorium Pontificia Università "Antonianum", Viale Manzoni 1
26th May morning: Italian Historical Institute for the Middle Ages, Piazza dell'Orologio 4