Sanctuary of Greccio
A friary cut against a limestone face above the Rieti valley, built around the cave where Francis kept Christmas in 1223.
- Location
- Greccio, Italy
- 42.4619° N · 12.7510° E
- Type
- Franciscan sanctuary and friary
- Dedication
- The Nativity of Christ
- The Chapel of the Crib
- Time Needed
- 1 hour to half a day
Bethlehem in the Rieti valley
Greccio is where Francis asked to see the poverty of Christ's birth with his own eyes. The sanctuary is small and steep, a line of rooms along a rock face above the oaks, and at its heart is a cave chapel with an altar over the rock.
Christmas, 1223
In late 1223, most likely on his way back from Rome after Pope Honorius III confirmed the Rule, Francis asked a friend at Greccio named John to prepare for Christmas. Thomas of Celano records what followed: a manger filled with hay, an ox and an ass, the brothers and the people of the farms climbing up with torches, and Mass celebrated over the manger while Francis, a deacon, sang the Gospel and preached. As Pope Francis wrote here in 2019, "At Greccio there were no statues." The Nativity is Gospel and had been painted for centuries; what began here was a way of keeping Christmas that the crib tradition grew from. A chapel was built over the cave in 1228.
The old friary is a sequence of low rooms against the limestone. They lead to the Chapel of the Crib, a cave with an altar over the rock and a Giottesque-school fresco setting Bethlehem beside Greccio. The large church on the terrace above dates from 1959.
A Christmas without statues.
Celano's account is plainer than the legend.
- 01 Begin with the Eucharist The manger was the place of the Mass. Hold the cave and the altar together.
- 02 Keep the distinctions Gospel, centuries of images, the documented Christmas of 1223, the later household crib.
- 03 Notice the scale The rooms of the first friary are tiny.
Celano records the Christmas of 1223 within a few years of Francis's death.
Pope Francis signed Admirabile signum here on December 1, 2019.
Greccio is one of four Franciscan sanctuaries of the Rieti valley.
Spiritual Significance
Greccio is a place to pray with the poverty of the Incarnation. Francis did not stage a pageant; he wanted the humility of the birth to be seen, and he put the Mass at the center of it. The Christ who lay in the manger is the Christ who comes on the altar.
The sanctuary keeps Christmas as its great season, but it is a Franciscan hermitage all year. It is the oldest of the four sanctuaries of the Rieti valley, and Franciscan pilgrims often walk between them.
- Celano records no statues. The figures in the chapel today are later devotion added to a place whose first Christmas had only a manger, hay and two animals.
- Francis was a deacon, never a priest. At Greccio he sang the Gospel and preached; a priest celebrated the Mass over the manger.
- The chapel was built in 1228, only five years after the Christmas it remembers.
- Pope Francis chose Greccio to sign Admirabile signum, his letter on the meaning of the Nativity scene, in 2019.
- Greccio stands at the southern edge of the Franciscan landscape. Rome is a day's journey on, and the Via di Francesco joins the two.
- Francis did not invent the Nativity scene. At Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, wood traditionally held to be from the manger had long been venerated.
- Celano adds that one of those present saw a child lying lifeless in the manger, and Francis rousing him as if from sleep.
Do Not Miss
-
01
The Chapel of the Crib
The cave of 1223, with an altar over the rock. Pray here first.
-
02
The fresco in the chapel
Bethlehem on one side, Greccio on the other: the painter's own reading of what happened here.
-
03
The wooden dormitory
Thirteenth-century cells divided by wooden partitions, the sleeping quarters of the early friary.
-
04
The terrace
The view over the Rieti valley, the landscape of the four Franciscan sanctuaries.
See all 4 · 1 more
- The terrace The view over the Rieti valley, the landscape of the four Franciscan sanctuaries.
Visit Plans
-
About 90 minutes Pilgrims at the place of the first Franciscan Christmas
From the cave to the valley
Pray at the Chapel of the Crib, walk through the rooms of the first friary, and finish on the terrace above the valley.
- Prayer in the Chapel of the Crib
- Francis's cell and the wooden dormitory
- The terrace and the modern church
How to Visit
Go first to the Chapel of the Crib and give it unhurried time; the cave is small and groups move through it in turns. Then walk through the old friary, the refectory, Francis's cell and the wooden dormitory, before going out to the terrace and the modern church. The sanctuary is open every day. Christmas Eve and the days around it are crowded, especially when the living Nativity is staged in the village; a weekday outside the season is quieter. Contact the friars for groups and current Mass times.
A short climb to a small cave.
The sanctuary is open every day. Check with the friars for current Mass times and group visits, and expect crowds around Christmas.
- Location
- Greccio, province of Rieti, Lazio, Italy
- Time needed
- About 1 to 2 hours
- Primary devotion
- The Nativity of Christ, kept with Saint Francis
Before setting out
The friars receive groups and can confirm the current Mass schedule.
- Telephone +39 0746 750127.
The approach from the parking area is short but uphill, and the old friary has steps and narrow passages.
December brings the largest crowds of the year. Plan a weekday visit outside the season for quiet.
Relics, Tombs, Sacred Objects
Sacred Objects
- The Chapel of the Crib, built in 1228 over the cave of the Christmas of 1223
- The Giottesque-school fresco in the chapel, setting the Nativity at Bethlehem beside Francis's Christmas at Greccio
- The cell of Francis and the thirteenth-century wooden dormitory of the first friary
Map
The account of 1223 follows Thomas of Celano's First Life as quoted in Pope Francis's Apostolic Letter Admirabile signum (2019), which is also the source for the Rule's confirmation on November 29, 1223 and the Santa Maria Maggiore tradition. Building dates and the fresco attribution follow the Comune di Greccio and the Lazio region. The friars' own sanctuary site was unreachable when this record was reviewed, so their contact details are given instead of a linked timetable.
October 1, 2026
Photo credits
- Hero. Fiat 500e, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY 4.0.
- The cave of 1223. Fiat 500e, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY 4.0.
- Bethlehem and Greccio together. MonDoMD, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Rooms against the rock. Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY-SA 4.0.