Nearly 400,000 people are expected to venerate the saint’s relics while on public display through March 22.
Hundreds of pilgrims lined up before dawn on Sunday to be among the first to pray before the exposed relics of St. Francis in his basilica in Assisi, Italy.
The saint’s bones will lie in a glass box through March 22 — fully visible outside the stone tomb in a crypt where they usually rest — as hundreds of thousands of people venerate the holy remains.
A highly organized system with QR code reservations allowed approximately 750 people to enter the lower church of the basilica every 30 minutes through most of the day Feb. 22 to view the saint.
Filing past 13th-14th century frescoes by Cimabue and Giotto, pilgrims on the chilly but sunny winter day approached the glass case, protected by a plexiglass barrier. Some were overwhelmed with emotion as they had the opportunity to stand a foot away from what still exists of St. Francis on earth 800 years after his death, according to Jacob Stein.
Stein, the creator of Crux Stationalis blog and part of the social media team of EWTN News, was among the first group to
