At significant risk to themselves, local Catholics and a German Catholic commander preserved peace in the birthplace of St. Francis

Following Francis' Footsteps: 

How Assisi Protected Jews During World War II, Part I

• For almost eight centuries, pilgrims venerating St. Francis have come to the picturesque hilltop town of Assisi, 100 miles northeast of Rome, where the saint was born in 1182. Here was where he founded three religious orders and died at age 45.
• Less known, especially by American Catholics, is Assisi’s legacy as a sanctuary for thousands of refugees displaced during World War II, including approximately 300 Jews who were hidden in the city’s convents, monasteries and private homes.
• Religious and civil leaders of wartime Assisi dramatically mirrored the saint’s message of compassion and peacemaking. The compassion they extended to outsiders while Allied and Axis forces fought on Italian soil is the subject of ongoing research and an exhibit, “Museum of Memory, 1943-1944 Assisi,” at Assisi’s Palazzo Vallemani.
• Italian scholar Francesco Santucci has spent the last 25 years reviewing town and Church archives in Assisi, assembling documents that form the basis for the exhibit. He shared Assisi’s remarkable story with the Register.

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Read more Part 1: www.ncregister.com/

How Assisi Protected Jews During World War II, Part II

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• Yesterday Part I told the story of Assisi’s wartime bishop, Guiseppi Nicolini, and his priest secretary, Father Aldo Brunacci, who together masterminded the network of hiding places for Jewish families in the city’s convents, monasteries and private homes—including the bishop’s palace.
• Part II recounts the strategy that prevented Assisi from suffering any military damage despite its location in an embattled region.

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Read more Part II www.ncregister.com