Assisi: A Little Nazareth

On the Feast of the Annunciation, a hidden truth about Assisi comes into view. 

Nazareth is where it all begins.

It is the place where Mary grew up, in the home of her parents, Anne and Joachim. It is where the angel Gabriel appeared to her, and where she gave her “yes.”

“I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to thy word.”

The Annunciation reveals the mystery of the Incarnation: God entering human history through Mary’s free consent. Her fiat given in faith, without certainty, becomes the beginning of redemption and the foundation of the Christian life.

Each year, on the Feast of the Annunciation, the Church returns to this moment with gratitude. It is a “yes” spoken in trust, like Abraham before her, believing even without knowing what lay ahead.

When pilgrims come to Assisi, they come in search of Francis, to walk in his footsteps and follow his path. Yet in one of the places most closely associated with him, they encounter something unexpected.

Inside the Porziuncola, the small chapel that Francis rebuilt and called “the place I love the most”, the central image above the altar is not Francis, but the Annunciation.

A 14th-century fresco shows Mary receiving the message of the Archangel Gabriel. Surrounding this scene are images connected to the Pardon of Assisi, the plenary indulgence associated with the chapel.

This is not incidental. The forgiveness offered at the Porziuncola comes from Christ and begins with the Incarnation, made possible through Mary’s fiat. The grace associated with this place does not originate with Francis himself, but flows from the same mystery that began in Nazareth. For this reason, the Franciscan friars refer to the Porziuncola as a “little Nazareth.” Even at its entrance is the inscription: Hic locus sanctus est “This is a holy place.

The Porziuncola is a place where countless people have given their own fiat where lives have changed direction, vocations have begun, and faith has been renewed.

It is here that Clare made her decisive commitment to follow Christ, leaving behind everything to embrace a life of poverty and prayer. It is here that the first companions of Francis began their journey. It is a place to which Francis himself returned again and again in prayer, and where he died in 1226.

At its centre stands Mary, not as a secondary figure, but as the one whose “yes” makes everything else possible. Just as her fiat opened the way for Christ to enter the world, so here, in this small chapel, that same pattern is repeated in the lives of those who respond to God.

This connection between Nazareth and Assisi has become even more tangible in recent years. A fragment of rock from the Grotto of the Annunciation in Nazareth has been placed in the Porziuncola for veneration. The two are now linked not only in meaning, but in a visible and physical way. Both places invite a response. Both are places where a “yes” is given.

For many pilgrims, this helps explain an unexpected experience.

They arrive in Assisi looking for Francis. But what they encounter is something more fundamental. They encounter a beginning, a renewal of faith, maybe even a fresh start.

The Annunciation was not a dramatic event. It took place in silence, without certainty, and without visible outcome. Mary did not know where her “yes” would lead.

Neither did Francis.
Neither did Clare.
Neither, perhaps, do we.

And yet the pattern remains the same. What began in Nazareth is not confined to the past. It is to be lived here and now.

What is our “yes” to God today?