St. Francis of Assisi’s 'Canticle of the Creatures' turns 800

By Kielce Gussie

The oldest copy of St. Francis of Assisi’s most well-known text, the Canticle of the Creatures, is on display in Rome's Museo di Roma from October 2 until January 6, 2025. To mark the 800th anniversary of its composition, 93 books and works from the Library in Assisi are all together in the Eternal City.

A look into the past

The exhibition is dedicated to the famous text. However, the curator of the exhibition, Dr. Paolo Capitanucci, says it has another underlying objective: to highlight “how over the centuries the Franciscans, inspired by St. Francis and his Canticle, have also engaged with disciplines that we today consider scientific.”

The poetic text was written by the founder of the Franciscan Order and dates back to 1224.

The nine sections of the exhibit include disciplines like mathematics, medicine, minerals, and geography. It is designed to mimic a tree, where, Dr. Capitanucci says, “the roots represent the inspiration of the Canticle, the trunk symbolizes the philosophical and theological disciplines taught in medieval universities, and the branches represent the different sciences.”

The Canticle of the Creatures

The poetic text was written by the founder of the Franciscan Order and dates back to 1224—two years before he died. It is one of the oldest texts in Italian literature. The Canticle consists of 23 verses dedicated to different parts of creation, like the sun and moon, wind and water.