Complex of St. Francis. That is where Golgotha \u200b\u200bis crucified to the new culture of the past. Four steps to take immediately John Lombardi
Today, the structure that best represents the agony, the annihilation our history the collapse of the thread of our memory and the complex of San Francesco. Next to the hill of three crosses Monte is now the new Golgotha \u200b\u200bwhere they crucified the culture of the past.
In 1952, even the monks, tired of the precarious conditions faced by the static complex that hosted them, the monastery was abandoned and the structure finally leaving the Philippine Fathers. Since then, the church was only used less often, then, the whole was gradually closed, abandoned, fenced off to danger of collapse, which occurred regularly. Its slow death that continues daily disintegrates amid general indifference.
His story began in 1612 when a delegation of citizens Guardiesi went to Naples to ask the Father than the Franciscan Reformed ; Guard to send a representation, as was the intention of building a community Guardiese with adjoining convent chapel. ' The factory was made at the expense of the whole earth at whose inhabitants are faithfully of them our brothers reformed ...' so we read in the 'Chronicles Franciscan'. Inhabitants tax themselves to build the monastery, helping and encouraging the settlement of the friars in the community Guardiese reform which originated in 1526 from the branch of the Friars Minor, who professed poverty, penance, prayer and meditation, the wake and the example of St. Francis. A couple of years after the request, get to watch some brothers and encamped at the moment among the Fathers of the Philippines, awaiting the construction of their convent. The factory was begun with the laying of the foundation stone in January 1616, the term given to friars. It was on Sunday, May 13, 1629.
The history of this territory, as is known, was marked and altered by natural events; most of the town of Guard and its sacred buildings suffered considerable damage in the earthquake of 1688. He did not except the convent, which collapsed, but his reconstruction, in the same place and Guardiese at the expense of the population, was just as timely and engaging. The attachment of Guardiesi the Franciscans went beyond the purely religious and was further consolidated with the memory of the behavior that the brothers had to the people during the plague of 1656, due to which almost all died to serve and help plague victims. With the suppression of the monasteries and religious orders during the Republic Partenopea in 1799, the convent of Police was requisitioned and used to a variety of uses: prison, barracks, district court and eventually school. The brothers returned to the convent Guardiese in 1833 and remained there until the early '50s, when, as we saw, they left him for good.
Already we can see from the installation map showing the articulated structure of the complex of San Francesco. The body of the baroque church nave consists of imposing outer walls that can accommodate six chapels, three on the right devoted to St. Antonio, San Pasquale, and S. Francis, and three on the left dedicated to Santa Chiara, the SS. Crucified and all 'Immacolata. On one side of the church has supported the structure of the convent, on the ground floor the dining hall and a range of service areas, while the first floor there are cells of the friars. The core of the monastery is certainly designed and characterized from the cloister square surrounded by arcades supported by columns of stone. In the midst of the cloister of an old tank is located underneath a stone bowl with jets and fountains. The porch with the dining room was painted by the painter of local origin, Michele Foschini, in the eighteenth century. The frescoes, di  fattura modesta,  sono ormai svaniti.
Dopo il terremoto del 1980, sia la chiesa che lo splendido portico sono totalmente transennati in ogni parte. Ponteggi, strutture in ferro, transenne  sono gli unici rimedi usati , come ad attenuare il senso di impotenza e di smarrimento di fronte a una lenta e segnata agonia ... rimedi usati per aiutare quella grande struttura  a morire, a svanire e dissolversi lentamente.  In relazione ai riti settennali  il Convento di San Francesco, come tutte le altre chiese di Guardia, era  ben legato con essi, e lo è stato fino a quando è stato agibile ed aperto alla devozione dei fedeli, pur non essendo una "chiesa dei riti" in senso stretto, come le altre strutture rionali.  La Chiesa del Convento era, comunque, inserita nel percorso processionale,  precisamente in quello di penitenza: nel percorso di ritorno, ciascun Rione doveva sempre inserire una 'stazione', una fermata, al Convento di San Francesco per ascoltare il sermone dei Padri Passionisti, noti tra la gente per dare corpo e parole alla dimensione della penitenza. Dopo il terremoto del 1980 la chiesa è stata chiusa ed esclusa dai percorsi processionali, perdendo quel ruolo, non secondario,  svolto per tutto il tempo della sua piena efficienza. Oggi la processione sale da Via Monte Tre Croci only to launch a distracting and compassionate look at what remains of the dying structure.
nurture the proposal for the inclusion of the rites seven-UNESCO list of intangible heritage clearly described in This page Insights: www.ritisettennali.info - blog ritisettennali - UNESCO - Intangible Cultural Heritage-ICH Video No comment 2009
