Dante and the Franciscans, Part Eleven
In 1949, nearly 140 years after being banished by Napoleon, Franciscans were welcomed back to Ravenna. The Archbishop restored the ancient Basilica of San Pietro Maggiore in San Francesco to the friars, but not the adjacent friary – which had finally ended up in the hands of a local bank.
Approaching the 700th anniversary of Dante’s birth, the friars initiated a special project in his honor. Friar Severino Ragazzini, a former Secretary General of the Order, was named Project Director, and committed himself “to create a Dante Center that would put us in touch with the living Dante.” The result would be uniting the ‘Glorious Sepulchre,’ which housed Dante’s remains, with a Center that houses his writings.
Conferences and exhibitions began to take place, along with research and the collection of testimonials to the legacy of the Poet. The Center acquired rare editions of Dante’s writings, leading the Ministry for Cultural and Environmental Heritage to declare the Center to be “of exceptional historical and artistic interest.”
Friar Enzo Fantini, who succeeded Friar Severino in 1986, continued to build the reputation of the Center. In 1989 he transferred the library and art collection to the rooms in the former friary, which had been donated back by the bank that owned it. Friar Enzo was then able to open the library and art collection to the public.
In 2005 the Center launched an annual Dante commemoration, held every September 13. This celebration is in addition to the traditional Mass for Dante on the second Sunday of September. It is at that Mass that the oil is offered for the lamp that burns perpetually where Dante’s remains repose.
We see the recent 700th Anniversary of Dante’s death as a time to rediscover and continue with the responsibility that Providence has entrusted to us.
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