Porziuncula

Porziuncola, also called Portiuncula (in Latin) or Porzioncula, is a small Catholic church located within the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels in Assisi in the frazione of Santa Maria degli Angeli, situated about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from Assisi, Umbria (central Italy). It is the place from where the Franciscan movement started.

The name Porziuncola (meaning “small portion of land”) was first mentioned in a document from 1045, now in the archives of the Assisi Cathedral.

Although its existence can be traced back with certainty only to 1645, according to a legend the little chapel of Porziuncola was erected under Pope Liberius (352-366) by hermits from the Valley of Josaphat, who had brought relics from the grave of the Blessed Virgin. The same legend relates that the chapel passed into the possession of Benedict of Nursia in 516. It was known as Our Lady of the Valley of Josaphat or of the Angels - the latter title referring, according to some, to the assumption of Mary accompanied by angels; a better-founded opinion attributes the name to the singing of angels which had been frequently heard there.

The chapel was located on a small portion of land ("Portiuncula") belonging to the Order of Saint Benedict of Monte Subasio. Later, the name of the land passed to the little church itself. It was in bad condition, lying abandoned in a wood of oak trees.

After a pilgrimage to Rome, where he begged at the church doors for the poor, Francis said he had had a mystical vision of Jesus Christ in the wayside chapel of San Damiano, about two miles outside of Assisi, in which the Icon of Christ Crucified came alive and said to him three times, "Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins". Francis took this literally to mean the ruined church in which he was presently praying, and so sold his horse and some cloth from his father's store, to assist the priest there for this purpose.

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