Benedetto Sinigardi

In 1211, after attending a sermon given by Francis of Assisi in the Piazza Grande in Arezzo he decided to enter the order.

In 1217 he was appointed Provincial of the Marches and set off a missionary to Greece, Romania and Turkey.

[2] He returned to Arezzo and spent his last years in the convent of Poggio del Sole (now demolished) where he died in old age.

This tradition found a surprising and authoritative advocate in Pope John Paul II who, on 23 May 1993, prayed at the tomb of Benedetto before reciting the Angelus.

He said, amongst other things We are in the place where, according to tradition, was born the custom of reciting the Angelus ...