Gennaro Becchimanzi – Von Speyer – St. Francis Of Assisi & St. Anthony

Newly recorded at the Basilica in Assisi, the birthplace of the Franciscan order, a comprehensive set of the ‘Rhymed Offices’ chanted by religious communities to bear witness to the miracles and virtues of St Francis and of St Antony of Padua. During the Middle Ages, the Church established the custom of chanting original poetic texts during the Hours of the Office (in particular, Vespers, Matins and Lauds). Their purpose was to construct a story which linked biblical texts, such as psalms and canticles, to the deeds and virtues of the Saints of the Church. Those Offices dedicated to St Francis of Assisi and to St Antony of Padua are attributed to Brother Julian, a musician-poet monk born in the Rhineland town of Speyer between 1175 and 1180. Most of his life was spent in Paris; he took formal Franciscan orders around 1225, and died in 1250. Saint Francis had died in October 1226. A biography was soon produced, by Tommaso of Celano, and Julian seems to