When I went into the Basilica to see the Portiuncula, I was completely blown away. It’s an incredibly beautiful site, this little chapel in the midst of a vast church, and there were pilgrims weeping all around me. They hear confessions non-stop, in many languages, and judging by the lines, I thought that this was going to be a life-transforming experience for many.
Like you, livius, when I first entered the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, there were oversized paintings and larger than life statues. It seemed so totally unlike the simplicity of St. Francis. But then I turned my head and saw this ...
Checking the guidebook, I read through the history of how this small church was given to Francis by by the Abbot of St. Benedict of Monte Subasio, on condition of making it the mother house of his religious family. It was in bad condition, lying abandoned in a wood of oak trees. He restored it with his own hands. When he was dying, Francis asked the brothers to carry his litter down to the Porziuncola. He placed his hand on the exterior wall and told the brothers that this church was very holy ... that our Lord and His blessed mother watched over it and that whoever entered with a sincere heart would have their prayer answered. It was in the Porziuncola that I submitted my final plea for a child. Nine months later, the response came through my parish of St. Francis of Assisi in NY and the adoption of a child born out of wedlock.