Patriarchalem Basilicam
Papal Brief "PATRIARCHALEM BASILICAM" of S.S. Paul VI
Grants the power to open the tomb of Saint Francis, to examine and recognize his relics
The Roman Pontiffs, at all times, have honored with singular veneration and have showered the Patriarchal Basilica of Assisi with the special favors of their benignity, because of the illustrious body of Saint Francis, who rests therein. Omitting others, testifies to his care the broad faculty that Pope Pius VII, our predecessor, granted, in the year 1818, to search diligently and to bring to light the body of Saint Francis, which had remained hidden for so long in the same church. This finally happily happened on December 12 of the same year, to the great joy of the Christian faithful.
Once the work had been carried out successfully and all the documents had been drawn up for their historical record, the Supreme Pontiff himself, through the Apostolic Letters that begin with the words Assisiensem Basilicam and which were dated September 5, 1820, sanctioned and declared that the "identity" of the body found under the main altar of the lower Basilica, and that it was truly the body of Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Order of Minors. Likewise, the Supreme Pontiff himself ordered with wise discretion: «That the venerable body not be moved out of the underground place, in which it has remained for almost six centuries, to another place; likewise, that it is not permitted to remove or carry away even the smallest part of the sacred bones, and, finally, that the urn, after it has been closed and sealed, at no time be opened without Our permission or that of the Roman then-existing pontiff
Not long ago, however, while the jubilee ceremonies were being celebrated for the 750th anniversary of the transit of Saint Francis, our dearest son Vital Bommarco, Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, to whose care the aforementioned Basilica of Assisi is entrusted , in order to attend in a more adequate and safe way to the conservation and harmlessness of the glorious tomb, and, at the same time, to be able to remove everything that, due to the passage of time and for other reasons, could have disfigured or diminished its decorum, he directed us some earnest prayers, endorsed by the recommendation of our venerable brother, the Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Silvio Oddi, our Legate for the same Basilica of Assisi, so that the necessary and opportune faculty be granted to diligently examine said tomb, as well as to open the stone sarcophagus and the metal urn in which the sacred remains are preserved, and, as necessary, to recognize the r elyques of the Seraphic Father and to recompose them religiously.
We felt that such requests certainly had to be granted benevolently. It seemed appropriate, however, to entrust the whole matter to a peculiar moderating Ecclesiastical Commission, whose president was the aforementioned Father Cardenal, and to add to it another team that is usually called technical.
Thus, by virtue of these Letters, we grant the aforementioned Ecclesiastical Commission and the technical team the necessary and appropriate powers to open the sarcophagus and burial urn of Saint Francis of Assisi, which contains his sacred relics, for inspection and recognition, and to duly carry out everything that is necessary or seems useful both for the safest conservation of the same, and for the most adequate custody of the sepulchral urn, whose situation and essential disposition must remain absolutely intact, prohibiting its extraction or the least of the sacred bones.
Finally, once again the sacred remains have been placed in a dignified manner, and the entire mortuary box adorned, as is fair, and arranged in a convenient way, close the urn with a bolt and secure it with the seals, and the sepulchral urn in turn be locked according to the primitive form, that later in no time will be opened without permission of the Roman Pontiff.
Of everything that has been done, a detailed list is prepared by a notary, also providing authentic copies, one of which is delivered to the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and the other is kept in the archive of the Sacred Convent adjoining the Basilica.
Without anything to the contrary, and keeping the liturgical laws and other regulations that must be observed in the recognition of sacred relics.
Given in Rome, next to Saint Peter, under the Fisherman's Ring, on January 17, 1978, the fifteenth of our Pontificate.
John Card. Villot
Secretary of state
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