The Monastery of Sant'Igne in San Leo From Saint Francis to the "beauty" Until the final reconstruction of the monastery of San Domenico in Pietracuta, the Franciscan monastery of Sant'Igne will accommodate the Center's anticipated activities for the next few years. According to tradition, the romanesque monastery of Sant'Igne, which dates back to the XIII century, was founded by Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226). The latter, passing through the area of San Leo in 1213 with Brother Leone, was attracted by the crowd of people gathered for a large celebration. Celebrations, organized by the Counts Buonconte and Taddeo de Montefeltro in honor of the consecration to knighthood of Montefeltro II, the son of Buonconte, took place at the time in the little city. Saint Francis and Brother Leone did not reach San Leo until nightfall on May 7 and found the doors of the draw-bridge closed. Having nowhere to spend the night, they headed towards a woods situated beneath a precipice, guided by the "miraculous" brightness of a fire, ignis in Latin, whence the name of the monastery (Sant'Igne means "holy fire"). They found refuge in the humble cabin of a woodcutter where they spent the night. It is on this spot that the monastery was later erected. The next day, during the celebration on the square of San Leo, in the shade of a young oak which became famous for this reason, Saint Francis"... improvised a prayer so admirable that it filled everyone there with wonder, and he did this using for his theme the first two verses of a love song (but inflecting them to a spiritual meaning) which was popular at the time: Tanto è il bene ch'io m'aspetto, ch'ogni pena m'è diletto"(Gino Franceschini, 1973). The monastery of Sant'Igne was constructed in the Roman-Gothic style with blocks of sandstone, material typical of the area. It is composed of a XIII century church in the form of a Latin cross, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a cloister of the same period, with an elegance as rare as it is simple. In 1735 the church underwent modifications which covered the ancient structures. Thanks to recent reconstructions, the ensemble has almost entirely recovered its original aspect. The interior is ad unica navata, with a non-elevated presbytery unlike that of the Parish and the cathedral of San Leo, whose architectural solutions emphasized class divisions between the rich and the poor. Inside, one finds a fresco, discovered in 1909, which represents "the Virgin and Child and at their sides Saint Joseph and Saint Antoine. Conserved there is part of the trunk of the young oak, felled 21 December 1662, under which Saint Francis preached in San Leo. The Franciscan Orders of Monastic Brothers lived in the small bare cells until the day the monastery was suppressed by Napoleon in1810; on this date it was taken over by the parish of San Leo. Saint Francis preached poverty, equality, and brotherhood everywhere he went, applying his rule to every aspect of life, through an interpretation faithful to the Holy Scriptures. "It is only through him and Saint Dominic that the word fratei or "brother" will enter into the language, thus replacing unicoi which means "monk," and that the monastic and Dominican churches will henceforth have but very little distinction among the brothers". (P. Bargellini).