Sanctuary of Greccio historical timeline

Last updated on October 9, 2026

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Greccio's history has an undated beginning and a very precisely dated turning point. Franciscan tradition puts Francis's first visit at 1209 or 1217, and the source is explicit that his presence then is considered probable but is not documented. What is historically established is 1223, and everything the sanctuary became follows from one night of it.

Chronology

1200s Francis withdraws in meditation to Monte Lacerone, over a thousand metres above the present sanctuary, living in a modest hut among the woods and coming down to preach in the village. His words win the admiration of the local lord, Giovanni Velita, who urges him to stay. By tradition Francis has a child throw a burning brand to choose the exact spot; it lands on the rock face of a hillock belonging to Velita, and he settles there in a grotto.
1223 The first historically ascertained presence. On Christmas Eve, with Velita's help and encouragement, Francis stages a re-enactment of the birth of Christ with living figures at the grotto where he is living. Legend holds that the figure of the child -- the only one not played by a person -- came to life and then went still again. The crib spreads from here through the Christian world.
after 1223 A small community of the saint's followers forms at Greccio, and the first buildings go up on the spot where the Nativity was staged.
1224-1226 Francis returns to Greccio from the end of September 1224 and stays until 1226, leaving six months before his death.
1228-1229 In the months immediately after Francis's canonisation -- July 1228 to February 1229 -- a church is built that encloses the grotto where the Nativity had been represented. It takes the name of the church of San Francesco.
1246 On 11 August three of Francis's companions meet at Greccio to write the Letter of Greccio, an introduction to their biography of the saint.
1257-1289 Blessed Giovanni da Parma, minister general of the order, lives in ascetic penance for 32 years in a grotto in the woods just outside the sanctuary.
1260-1270 The dormitory of San Bonaventura is raised, by tradition during Bonaventure's generalate, and the community moves out of the old monastery. Built entirely of wood, fifteen cells off a narrow corridor, it stays in use until 1915.
1409 The lunette fresco above the altar of the Cappella del Presepio is painted, in the Giottesque manner, attributed to an anonymous master of Narni. It shows Bethlehem on one side and Greccio on the other.
1712 Clement XI has a small chapel built on the summit of Monte Lacerone, at 1204 m, where Francis is said to have made his hut near two large hornbeams.
1889 That summit chapel is absorbed into a shepherds' house.
1906 The upper church is built, replacing a 16th-century portico.
1915 The wooden dormitory of San Bonaventura goes out of use after roughly six and a half centuries.
1959 The sanctuary is enlarged after the war with a belvedere terrace and a larger church, the Immacolata Concezione, designed by Alberto Carlo Carpiceci and set into the mountainside.
1983 John Paul II visits on 2 January, the first pope to come to the sanctuary.
1996 An olive tree donated by the Jewish National Fund is planted during the Forum Internazionale Civilta dell'Amore.
2014 The Comune di Greccio introduces a compulsory entry ticket for tourist coaches to the sanctuary area and the town, by council deliberation of 8 September.
2016 Pope Francis visits privately on 4 January. In July a bronze of John Paul II blessing the Valle Santa is placed on the approach road.
2019 Pope Francis returns in public on 1 December and delivers the apostolic letter Admirabile signum, on the meaning of the nativity scene, at Greccio.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — It is not clear in what year Francis of Assisi first came to Greccio: Franciscan tradition holds his first visit to date to 1209 or 1217, and his presence in that period is considered probable but is not documented, According to tradition Francis withdrew in meditation to the mountain overlooking the present sanctuary, Monte Lacerone, today also called Monte San Francesco, at a height of over a thousand metres, living among the woods in a modest hut and often coming down to the village where he preached the Gospel and railed against the impious customs of the inhabitants, his words arousing the admiration of the feudal lord of Greccio, one Giovanni Velita, who urged him to remain, According to legend, to choose the exact place to settle Francis charged a child with throwing a burning brand which, flying like a bolt, ended its course on the steep rocky wall of a hillock belonging to Giovanni Velita; there Francis established his dwelling in a humble grotto which formed the first nucleus of the sanctuary, initially little more than a rock site, and only over time were the buildings that now compose it built around the grotto, Francis's first historically ascertained presence at Greccio dates to 1223, and on Christmas Eve of that year, with the help and encouragement of Velita, he gave life to a re-enactment with living figures of the birth of Christ on Christmas Night, held at the grotto where he was living; legend tells that the little child, the only non-living figure in the re-enactment, came to life and then returned inanimate, and following this event the crib became a tradition spread throughout the Christian world, Immediately after 1223 a small community of the saint's followers formed at Greccio and the first buildings were erected at the place of the representation of the crib, and Francis later returned to Greccio from the end of September 1224 until 1226, leaving it six months before his death, In the period immediately after the canonisation of Francis, between July 1228 and February 1229, a church was built incorporating the grotto that had housed the representation of the nativity, which took the name of the church of San Francesco; in 1906 the upper church was built in place of the previous 16th-century portico, and after the war the sanctuary was enlarged with the construction of a belvedere terrace and a larger church, the church of the Immacolata Concezione, in 1959, On 11 August 1246 three companions of Francis met at Greccio to draw up the celebrated Letter of Greccio, an introduction to their biography of the saint; in 1996, during the Forum Internazionale Civilta dell'Amore, an olive tree donated by the Jewish National Fund was planted; and the sanctuary has been visited three times by a pope, on 2 January 1983 by John Paul II and twice by Pope Francis, privately on 4 January 2016 and publicly on 1 December 2019, when he delivered the apostolic letter Admirabile signum concerning the meaning of the crib, A little outside the sanctuary of Greccio, immersed in the wood and set against the rock, is the grotto of the blessed Giovanni da Parma, minister general of the order, who lived there in ascetic penance for 32 years from 1257 to 1289, and nearby is the little cell of St Francis where the saint went to pray in solitude, today converted into an oratory, a small space housing an 18th-century fresco representing the Death of St Francis and the remains of another older fresco; the two cells are not open to the public, The dormitory of San Bonaventura is where the friars lived after the old monastery was given up, from 1260/70 until 1915, and is said to have been erected in the period when San Bonaventura was general of the order, from which it takes its name; built entirely of wood, it consists of a narrow corridor giving access to fifteen small cells, the first on the right being known for having housed San Bonaventura and San Bernardino da Siena, Above the altar of the cappella del Presepio is a lunette-shaped fresco of the 15th century of the Giottesque school, attributed to an anonymous master of Narni of 1409, whose right part shows the original nativity of Bethlehem with the Virgin nursing the infant Jesus in the presence of St Joseph, while the left part illustrates the nativity re-enacted by Francis at Greccio, showing the saint dressed as a deacon kneeling before the Child with the people of Greccio behind him witnessing the miracle; from the chapel a corridor leads to the old monastery with two frescoes, a nativity of the Umbrian-Marche school and a St John the Baptist, held to be works of the school of the Maestro di Fossa of the 14th century, From the sanctuary of Greccio, by a rough path through the wood a couple of kilometres long, one can climb to the summit of Monte Lacerone at 1204 metres above sea level, the place where St Francis dwelt before founding the sanctuary, and at the point where Francis is held to have built his own hut, near two large hornbeam trees, stands a small chapel built at the order of Pope Clement XI in 1712 and incorporated into a shepherds' house in 1889 (October 2026).
Checked against Comune di Greccio — By deliberation of the Consiglio Comunale n. 34 of 08.09.2014 the Comune di Greccio introduced the obligation to pay an entry ticket for tourist coaches for the Santuario Francescano area and Greccio capoluogo, payable at the Ufficio Turistico Comunale at Piazzale dei Tre Compagni, below the Santuario Francescano del Presepio (October 2026).

Sanctuary of Greccio historical timeline

Chronology

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