Descending Nikiforou Theotoki Street in the center of Corfu Town, at number 96, a heavy, ornate iron gate and a stone staircase lead to the revelation of a religious center, once central to the island’s Catholic community, yet largely unknown to many today. This site, now home to the 5th Primary School, is a living witness to a place that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries.
A Crossroads of Faith and Culture: The Monastery’s Enduring Legacy
Since the 14th century, the Church and former Monastery of St. Francis of Assisi, one of the island’s oldest monasteries, has been a beacon of worship, letters, and arts. It stands proudly next to the historic Orthodox Church of Saint Anthony. Despite being plundered and bombed, it continues to narrate its tumultuous history and contribute to the society of Corfu.
The historical researcher and Secretary of the Catholic Archdiocese, Mr. Spyros Gaoutsis, who guided us through this religious monument, noted that the exact founding date of the Church remains unknown due to a lack of written evidence. Tradition attributes its founding to St. Francis of Assisi himself. However, Mr. Gaoutsis points out that this information is a common practice to lend greater historical weight and respect to such sacred sites, though it has not been confirmed.
According to historical sources, a church dedicated to Archangel Michael, housing Orthodox nuns, existed on the monastery’s site in the mid-13th century, when the island was part of the Despotate of Epirus. These nuns either abandoned or were expelled from the site during the Angevin conquest of the island.
From Angevin Rule to Venetian Dominion: A Monastery’s Transformation
“In 1367, the Church of St. Francis, or ‘of the Angel’ as it was then known, was renovated and granted by the significant Angevin ruler, Philip II, Prince of Taranto, to the Order of the Conventual Franciscans. The Order of St. Francis, founded in 1209 as a mendicant order of the Catholic Church based on the Rule written by St. Francis (1182 – 1226), is celebrating 800 years since his death this year,” states Mr. Gaoutsis. “The monks soon transformed it into a notable religious center for its time, where, among others, the General Abbot of the Order for the Balkan region resided.”
According to tradition, on May 20, 1386, the Corfiot community, by decision of its Council, symbolically offered the keys to the city inside the Church to the Venetian Admiral and Capitano del Golfo Giovanni Miani, as an acknowledgment of the islanders’ devotion to the Serene Republic of Saint Mark. In remembrance of this event, a commemorative inscription was placed on the facade of the Church, which was removed in the mid-19th century.
“The Church was renovated and consecrated on September 17, 1621, by the Latin Archbishop Benedetto Bragadino. The Holy Church and Monastery, until the end of Venetian rule, played a leading role in all religious and social events and activities of the wider region,” emphasizes Mr. Gaoutsis. He continues, “The arrival of French troops in Corfu marked the end of the Franciscan Conventuals’ presence on the island. Their Monastery, like all revenues of the Latin churches and the Archdiocese, was confiscated by Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops. A large part of the Church was encroached upon, and most relics were stolen or destroyed.”
From Napoleonic Era to Modern Day: A Site of Education and Resilience
The French Administration allocated some residences to the family of the director of the first printing house on Greek soil, which was housed in the adjacent Church of Panagia tou Karmilou, where patriotic texts by Rigas Feraios and Christoforos Perraivos had been printed.
Subsequently, parts of the monastic complex housed the Ionian Academy of the French, and from 1811 to 1815, the first Art School of Corfu operated under the direction of the prominent sculptor Pavlos Prosalentis. In the late 19th century, the monastery’s premises housed the Corfiot branch of the model Arsakeio Girls’ School, then the Israeli School of Corfu, and today the 5th Primary School of the Prefecture. During World War II, the Church was bombed by the Italian air force, resulting in the destruction of its exquisite celestial decoration. It continued to function until the early 1970s as the Metropolitan Church of the Catholics of Corfu, as the Catholic Church “Duomo” had been bombed in 1943 by the German air force.
The monastery’s layout is characteristic of a simple monastic complex of Western dogma, with a colonnade in the courtyard, around which the monks’ cells are located. The catholicon of the adjacent church is a single-nave basilica with a wooden roof, in the southwestern corner of which is the single-room chapel of Saint Anna. The bell tower is imposing, massive, and tower-like, reminiscent of similar Italian Romanesque styles. The sanctuary is separated from the rest of the church by a marble partition wall, in the center of which an ancient icon of St. Francis is preserved. On its vertical sides, there are ornate altars dedicated to Saint Roch, the Theotokos, Saint Anthony of Padua, and Saint Barbara. To its western side rises a balcony, the position of the church organ, which is now in the Duomo.
A Repository of Sacred Art and History
Inside the Church, valuable works of ecclesiastical art and devotional objects are preserved, some of which come from Catholic Churches bombed during World War II, such as a magnificent wooden cross transferred there from the Metropolis of Saint James. The oldest epigraphic monument preserved in the Church is a marble holy water basin, dated 1571, while on the left side, the Altar of Saint Barbara, adorns one of the most significant pictorial monuments, a work by the Venetian Francesco Fontebasso.
It should be noted that the Altar of Saint Barbara was used by the Brotherhood of Artillerymen, the Corps of Bombardieri or Artiglieri, for their meetings, ceremonies, and services. Right next to it is the magnificent altar dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua. This Sacred Altar, with a Papal Synopsis signed on October 4, 1751, the feast day of Saint Francis, by Pope Benedict XIV, is considered privileged, as the officials of the Venetian Administration and prominent members of the Corfiot community officiated there.
To the right of the Church, the only wooden altar in relation to the marble ones is preserved, with the icon of Saint Roch, which was transferred from the homonymous church of the porters’ guild, located in the Saroko area of Corfu.
In the Church of Saint Francis, funerary monuments and epitaphs of military personnel and members of aristocratic families of Corfu and Venice are preserved. The Church is honored on October 4, the memorial day of Saint Francis, patron saint of Nature and Animals, as his sainthood was proclaimed by the Catholic Church. The day was established as World Animal Day in 1931, at a conference on the Environment in Florence. A tradition in Corfu on that festive day, after the Divine Liturgy, is for pet owners, cats and dogs, to gather in the churchyard to receive a blessing from the Catholic Archbishop.
Source: https://www.makedonikanea.gr/politismos/i-katholiki-moni-toy-agioy-fragkiskoy-tis-asizis-stin-kerkyra-ena-thriskeytiko-mnimeio
