LAUDATO SIE! Nature and science: the cultural legacy of Brother Francis

The Museum of Rome at Palazzo Braschi, on the occasion of the eighth centenary of the composition of the Canticle of the Creatures by Saint Francis of Assisi, which will be celebrated in 2025, hosts the exhibition Laudato Sie: Nature and Science. The cultural legacy of Brother Francis.

The exhibition, which starts from the oldest manuscript of the Canticle of Brother Sun or Canticle of Creatures (Canticum or Laudes Creaturarum) - among the first poetic texts written in Italian vernacular that have come down to us - presents an itinerary, always accompanied by a narration multimedia, which is divided into 93 rare volumes, including manuscripts and ancient books, from the ancient Collection of the municipal Library of Assisi preserved in the Sacred Convent.

The exhibition project places the developments of Franciscan scientific thought at the centre, starting from the poetic - mystical dimension of the Canticle of Brother Sun, and then focusing on the philosophical-theological idea of ​​the first Franciscan thinkers on the theme of nature and on the different ways in which sciences have observed creation over the centuries, especially how the Franciscans contributed greatly to it.

After the two introductory sections - Laudato sie: grateful amazement in the face of Creation and The inspiration of the origins: Bible, theology and philosophy - the two main themes on which the exhibition is centered, the other exhibition sections branch off: The Franciscans and encyclopedic knowledge; Sora (Sister) moon and stars: astronomy; Of number and vision: mathematics and optics; In the world everything is in motion: physics; The elements, minerals, metals and their transformation: alchemy; The Fabrica of the body: medicine, anatomy and surgery. The exhibition concludes with a summary section, which reconnects the celebratory look at the richness of the world of the Canticle of Creatures, considered from the perspective of the life sciences: Cum tucte le tue creature (With all your creatures): plants, animals and men.

The exhibition itinerary therefore highlights how over the centuries there has always been the presence in the Franciscan Order of a "curiosity" interwoven with religious sense and wonder for creation as in the poetics of the Canticle, accompanied however by critical rigor and attention to objective data, in line with the scientific developments of their time.

Photo credits: Manuscript of the Canticle of Brother Sun or Canticle of Creatures-the Museum of Rome at Palazzo Braschi official site