San Francesco Piccolino


The oratory of San Francesco Piccolino was supposed to be the draper’s shop on or near the ground floor of the home of the family of St Francis.  It became an oratory in 1281, and the archway was constructed at this time. Over the doorway are carved these words:
  ‘This oratory, once a cattle-stall, was the birthplace of of Francis, mirror of the world.’
  The rather unconvincing transformation from drapers to cattle stall was clearly intended to link the birth of Francis with the birth of Christ.



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