Duomo San Rufino

The Cathedral of San Rufino (St. Rufinus) is a major church in Assisi, Italy, that has been important in the history of the Franciscan order. In this church St Francis (1182) and St. Clare (1193) and many of their original disciples were baptised. When hearing Francis preaching in this church in 1209, Clare of Assisi became deeply touched by his message and she realized her calling. Once St Francis was witnessed praying in this church while, at the same time, he was seen jumping on a chariot of fire in the Porziuncola (as related by Tommaso da Celano, Vita I, chap. XVIII)

This stately church in Umbrian Romanesque style was the third church built on the same site to contain the remains of bishop Rufino, martyred in the 3th century. The construction was started in 1140 according to the designs by Giovanni da Gubbio, as attested by the wall inscription visible inside the apse. He may be the same Giovanni who designed rose-window on the façade of Santa Maria Maggiore (Assisi) in 1163. In 1228, while he was in Assisi for the canonization of Saint Francis, Pope Gregory IX consecrated the high altar. Pope Innocent IV then inaugurated the finished church in 1253.