Laudato sie: nature and science

The cultural heritage of Brother Francis

Laudato sie is a unique exhibition, showcasing for the first time the Canticle of Brother Sun alongside other precious volumes from the vast collection of the Library of the Sacred Convent of Assisi. Laudato sie offers an unprecedented look into the Franciscan cultural and scientific world – which has explored nature not only as a sign of divine omnipotence and goodness but also for its beauty and autonomy.

The precious and rare medieval manuscripts, the ancient and significant printed texts of Laudato Sie will take us from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age, through what the Franciscans produced with their ingenuity and what they read, annotated, and preserved for centuries in their rich library, in a reciprocal exchange between theological reflection and scientific knowledge.

A significant number of encyclopedists, physicists, mathematicians, astronomers, doctors, alchemists, and geographers belonging to the Franciscan Order have expressed, over the last eight centuries, a learned and original attitude, as well as enormous intellectual vivacity and curiosity.

The exhibition follows the metaphor of the tree, whose deep roots lie in the words of the Canticle of Brother Sun, rising up the trunk of Franciscan reflection, to the branches and leaves of a flourishing tree of knowledge.

The extraordinary library heritage on display allows us to grasp new aspects of Franciscan culture, such as the breadth of philosophical and theological reflection, the particular attention to the universe of creatures, and the openness to the world.