Churches, Basilicas & Cathedrals Assisi Pilgrimage Hub Saint Damian, with the church and cloister of the early Poor Clares

San Damiano

The quiet church and cloister where the call of Saint Francis and the enclosed life of Saint Clare took shape.

Best For
  • Quiet prayer in the place of Saint Francis's call and Saint Clare's enclosure
  • Following the Franciscan story in the geography where it began
  • A contemplative counterweight to the larger basilicas
  • Reading the early Poor Clare life in the cloister where it took shape
Why This Place Matters

Where Francis Listened and Clare Stayed

Do not miss
  1. The church and the copy of the San Damiano Crucifix — The original is in the Basilica of Saint Clare; the copy here is hung where the original once was.
  2. The Poor Clare choir behind the altar — The small enclosed space with the wooden stalls of the first community.
  3. The refectory of the early Poor Clares — Preserved with the seats of Clare and Saint Agnes of Assisi indicated.
  4. The garden behind the apse — Traditionally associated with the composition of the Canticle of the Creatures in 1225.

Come here for the place rather than for an object. The original San Damiano Crucifix is preserved in the Basilica of Saint Clare in the old town. San Damiano itself is where the encounter is traditionally located and where Clare and her sisters lived a hidden enclosed life for more than forty years.

Story and Architecture

A Small Church Rebuilt and Made a Home

San Damiano was a small abandoned church when Francis, after his conversion, began to repair it with his own hands and stones he gathered or begged in the town above. The early Franciscan sources connect this work to the call he is traditionally said to have heard from the painted crucifix in the church. The site became Clare's at the end of 1212. After Francis received her into religious life at the Porziuncola on Palm Sunday of that year, and after brief stays at two other convents while her family tried to retrieve her, Clare settled at San Damiano with her first companions. Her younger sister Catherine — Saint Agnes of Assisi — joined her within months. Clare remained here for forty-one years. The community moved up to the new basilica in 1260, seven years after her death, taking her body and the original crucifix with them.

The church is a small Romanesque stone building with a single nave and a low choir behind the altar. The 13th-century cloister, refectory, and dormitory of the Poor Clares survive almost intact, kept at the same modest scale as the first community. The garden behind the cloister opens toward the Umbrian plain.

San Damiano is one of the quieter destinations in Assisi and is best approached as a place of silence and slow attention. The custody of the Conventual Franciscans keeps it as a place of prayer rather than as a museum.

When You Are There

What to Notice

These are the details that turn a visit into an encounter.

  • How small everything is. The choir, the refectory, and the dormitory are kept at the scale Clare and her sisters actually lived.
  • That the most important object here is preserved elsewhere. San Damiano is a place rather than a relic site.
  • How the building still functions as a sanctuary rather than as a museum, with daily prayer and Mass.
  • The view from the garden over the Umbrian plain, which Francis would have known when he composed the Canticle of the Creatures.
Connected Saints

Saints Associated With This Place

The place she actually lived

Saint Clare of Assisi

The small church and cloister below the southern walls of Assisi, where Clare and her first sisters lived in enclosure from 1212 until her death in 1253.

Learn about Saint Clare of Assisi
Repair and conversion

Saint Francis of Assisi

The church where Francis is traditionally said to have heard Christ call him to repair the Church, and later the home of Clare and the Poor Clares.

Learn about Saint Francis of Assisi
Relics, Tombs, and Sacred Objects

What Makes It Spiritually Significant

The most important things to notice are spatial and contemplative rather than monumental: the small choir, the refectory, the garden, and the place above the altar where the crucifix once hung.

Saints Buried Here

  • No major tomb is preserved at San Damiano. Clare and her sisters were buried here until their bodies were translated to the Basilica of Saint Clare in 1260, when the community moved into the new basilica.

Relics

  • The original San Damiano Crucifix is preserved in the Basilica of Saint Clare in the old town. A faithful copy of the cross hangs in the church here, in the place where it originally hung.
  • The cloister, the refectory, and the small choir traditionally associated with the early Poor Clares are preserved within the complex.

Sacred Objects

  • The copy of the San Damiano Crucifix above the small altar of the church.
  • The Poor Clare choir behind the church, with the wooden stalls and the small window through which Clare is traditionally said to have received Communion.
  • The refectory used by the first community, with seats marked at the places of Clare and Saint Agnes of Assisi.
  • The garden behind the cloister where, according to the early biographers, Francis composed most of the Canticle of the Creatures in 1225.
Prayer and Worship

How to Visit

Walk down from the southern gate of Assisi. Enter the church first and pray before the copy of the crucifix. Step into the small choir behind the altar where Clare and her sisters prayed. Continue into the cloister, the refectory, and the early dormitory above. End in the garden behind the apse, where Francis is traditionally said to have composed most of the Canticle of the Creatures.

  • Daily Mass in the small church
  • Quiet pilgrim prayer before the copy of the San Damiano Crucifix
  • Liturgy of the Hours kept by the resident Franciscan community
  • Time of silence in the cloister and the garden
Plan Your Time

How Long to Give It

1 Hour

Pray in the church, step into the Poor Clare choir, walk the cloister and refectory, and end in the garden behind the apse.

2 Hours

Add silent time in the garden and a slower reading of the dormitory and the small choir grille.

Half Day

Pair San Damiano with the Basilica of Saint Clare in the old town, where the original San Damiano Crucifix and the body of Clare are preserved.

How to Pace the Visit

Walk down to San Damiano in the late morning or early evening, when the path is quiet and the Umbrian light is soft. The site only opens fully if it is approached slowly and in silence.

Plan Your Visit

Suggested Ways to Visit

Use these as simple visit plans. Check current schedules and access before you go.

45 to 60 minutes

A First Prayer Visit

Pilgrims who want the place of Saint Francis's call and Saint Clare's enclosure at the center of the visit.

A short walk from the southern gate of Assisi down to the church and back.

  1. Walk down from Porta Nuova on the southern side of the old town.
  2. Enter the church and pray before the copy of the San Damiano Crucifix.
  3. Step into the Poor Clare choir behind the altar.
  4. Walk through the cloister, the refectory, and the dormitory above.
  5. End in the garden behind the apse before climbing back to the town.
Half day

San Damiano with the Basilica of Saint Clare

Pilgrims who want to follow Clare from the place she actually lived to the basilica that now holds her body.

Pair the church and cloister of San Damiano with the basilica that gathers what was once kept here.

  1. Begin at San Damiano in the morning, when the site is quietest.
  2. Walk back into the old town through Porta Nuova.
  3. Visit the Basilica of Saint Clare for the tomb of Clare and the original San Damiano Crucifix.
  4. End at the Cathedral of San Rufino, where Clare was baptized.
Nearby

Nearby Sacred Places

These nearby places are included because they deepen the Christian or Catholic meaning of the visit, not because they are general attractions.

Basilica of Saint Clare

The basilica in the old town that holds the tomb of Clare and the original San Damiano Crucifix from this church.

Explore Place

Basilica of Saint Francis

The papal basilica at the western edge of the old town, raised over the tomb of Saint Francis.

Explore Place

Porziuncola at Santa Maria degli Angeli

The small chapel in the plain below where Francis received Clare into religious life before she withdrew to San Damiano.

Explore Place

Eremo delle Carceri

The Franciscan hermitage on Mount Subasio above Assisi. The other quiet site in the cluster — outward to the woods to balance Clare's inward enclosure here.

Explore Place
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Practical Notes

Relevant Details

Address
Via San Damiano, 06081 Assisi, Italy
Type
Sanctuary church and early Poor Clare cloister
Visit length
45 to 60 minutes for a recollected first visit
Best time
Early morning or late afternoon, outside the midday closure and outside the high-season crowds
Dress code
Shoulders and knees covered
Photography
Permitted with restraint in the cloister and garden; not permitted inside the church or the choir
Silence
Strict silence is observed throughout the complex
Cost
Free admission; donations support the resident Franciscan community
Accessibility
Reached on foot by a sloping path from the southern gate of Assisi, with steps within the complex
Getting there
About a fifteen minute walk downhill from Porta Nuova on the southern side of the old town
Official Church Site

The cross that hangs above the altar at San Damiano today is a faithful copy. The original 12th-century crucifix has been preserved in the Basilica of Saint Clare in the old town since the Poor Clare community moved there in 1260.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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