On the occasion of the ordinary Jubilee of 2025, announced last May 9th by Pope Francis with the title “Spes Non Confundit” (Hope does not disappoint), the theme of the “Pilgrims of Hope” takes on a profound resonance, especially in a context of spiritual rebirth and reconciliation with creation. Guido Dettoni of Grace, an artist known for his exploration of the connection between art and faith, has been present in Assisi since 2000 with his Contemporary Sacred Art Exhibition at the Church of Santa Maria delle Rose. Here, his art merges with Franciscan spirituality, offering pilgrims an immersive and transformative experience.
The Manimaterialia Project: Seeing with the Hands, Feeling with the Heart
The project, managed by Santa Maria delle Rose Cooperative, is an invitation to experience the “Canticle of the Creatures” in a unique and innovative way. The “Canticle”, written by St. Francis of Assisi, is a praise to the beauty and goodness of creation, a celebration of the connection between humanity and nature. Manimateria, conceived by Guido Dettoni, translates this message into an artistic form that goes beyond the intellect, offering a mode of expression through touch and blindness, just as experienced by St. Francis in the last years of his life.
During this process, Participants model wax while blindfolded, allowing themselves to be guided by the hands and the voice reciting the "Canticle of the Creatures." In this state of "voluntary blindness," similar to that experienced by Saint Francis, they abandon themselves to the flow of the moment, without a conscious goal, but allowing their intimate connection with the message of the Canticle to take shape in the malleable wax. The result is a sculpture that expresses the inner and spiritual state of its creator, a work that becomes a tangible testimony of hope.
A Message of Light in the Darkness: Hope That Never Goes Out
The theme of hope resonates strongly in the context of the Jubilee of 2025, a theme that aligns perfectly with the project of Dettoni and with the idea of St. Francis that “tAll the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle”. This phrase embodies the concept of hope as a force that persists, even in the darkest difficulties. Likewise, Through the Minimateria project, art becomes a means to illuminate the path of pilgrims, offering an experience that reconnects them with their faith, with the world, and with themselves.
An Experience of Peace and Reconciliation
Minimateria is not just an artistic project, but a real spiritual path. Through the creation guided by the "Canticle of the Creatures," participants become pilgrims themselves, capable of transmitting, through their hands, a message of peace and reconciliation. This journey, which unites Assisi with the vision of the Jubilee, offers a way to experience hope in a concrete, tangible, and spiritually profound way.
In an age of uncertainty and conflict, the sacred art of Guido Dettoni della Grazia, through his Exhibition at the Church of Santa Maria delle Rose and the Minimateria project, invites pilgrims to rediscover the power of hope and light. This message resonates not only for the Jubilee of 2025, but also as a guide for every man and woman on their journey toward a deeper union with creation and with God.
Minimateria: An Artistic Pilgrimage to Hope and Creation
The Minimateria project, conceived by artist Guido Dettoni della Grazia, is an extraordinary artistic and spiritual experience deeply rooted in the "Canticle of the Creatures" by St. Francis of Assisi. This creative process, which takes place in dedicated workshops, invites participants to shape the wax with their hands, blindfolded, while listening to the recitation of the “Canticle”. The intent is to enable a profound connection between body, spirit, and nature, through a sensory experience that goes beyond sight and intellect. The hands, free from conscious intentions, move in the wax, giving life to forms that reflect the inner state of each participant, stimulated by the spiritual message of the “Canticle”.
The heart of this process is precisely the absence of a precise goal, the abandonment of conscious intention, allowing the flow of the hands to create a form that is a tangible expression of the inner spirit. This method transforms meditation into sculpture, where the message of love, respect and union with Creation, which emerges from the “Canticle of the Creatures”, becomes living matter, an embodied hope that inspires participants to become pilgrims of peace.
The Workshops: A Collective Journey of Creation
The project of Minimatter takes on a collective and inclusive dimension through a series of workshops, which begin Saturday, October 26, 2024, a date which symbolically coincides with the day of birth of St. Francis of Assisi, and will continue until October 2025. This period of time will allow numerous participants to connect with the creative power of the process, contributing to a community journey of reflection and hope.
Each workshop will be an opportunity to explore the Franciscan spirit through artistic creation, uniting art, faith, and meditation in an experience that transcends the individual, becoming an expression of communion with creation and with other participants. Just as St. Francis celebrated the harmonious union between humanity and nature, "Minimateria" translates this message into a form that is both spiritual and tangible., remembering that love for Creation can be shaped by hand, and that even the smallest spark of hope can illuminate the darkness.
The Pilgrimage of Hope until the Jubilee 2025
The theme of the ordinary Jubilee of 2025, Spes Non Confundit ("Hope does not disappoint"), perfectly intertwines with the inspiration behind Minimateria. Each workshop becomes a moment of spiritual growth, a stage in a pilgrimage that will culminate with the Jubilee, when participants will be able to reflect on the works they have created and on their own inner journey.
The experience offered in the Minimateria workshops is not just an artistic exercise, but a true act of faith and hope. Each sculpture created during this journey will be a tangible testimony to the message of the “Canticle of the Creatures”, a sign of how art can translate into material forms the spiritual message of love and peace that St. Francis left as a legacy.
The Minimateria journey will culminate in 2025, a year in which humanity will be invited to rediscover hope and walk as pilgrims of peace, with hearts and hands open to the beauty and sacredness of Creation.
The “Minimateria” workshops take place at the Church of Santa Maria delle Rose in Assisi, at the foot of the symbolic TAU, a place of profound Franciscan spirituality. These meetings, aimed at groups of at least five and a maximum of ten people over the age of 12, will be held from October 2024 to October 2025, once or twice a month. Each session begins with the distribution of warm wax that adapts to the size of the participants' hands. Arranged in pairs and blindfolded, they begin to shape the wax together, without speaking, so that their hands interact with the shared material.This symbolic gesture represents unity and interdependence, promoting the awareness of being part of a larger whole.. The forms created in this first moment will not be preserved, since their purpose is to awaken sensitivity to contact and collaboration.
After this introduction, each participant individually proceeds to model the wax, always with their eyes covered. During this process, they listen to a voice reciting St. Francis's "Canticle of the Creatures" in Umbrian vernacular, the language in which the original text was composed. The hands move freely, without a conscious desire to produce a specific shape, allowing a sculpture to emerge that reflects the inner state of mind of each individual, inspired by the words of the “Canticle”. Once completed, the mold is hardened by immersing it in cold water. Each participant then chooses a perspective from which to photograph their creation, transforming the three-dimensionality of the wax into a two-dimensional image, and shares their reflections and interpretations of what they see in the photo.
The photographic images can be shared and distributed online, in a virtual gallery that will be accessible to everyone through the dedicated website: www.canticodellecreature.art
The “Canticle of the Creatures 2025” project will conclude in January 2026 with the presentation of the “Visions”, a series of virtual images, both static and moving, created by Guido Dettoni della Grazia. These works will be enriched with music and text, and will be published on a dedicated website. They will also be exhibited at the Church of Santa Maria delle Rose on the occasion of the’800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis. The exhibition could also be brought to other venues, making the event itinerant and spreading the spiritual message of the “Canticle” globally.
Guido Dettoni's project will be a collective journey, where each participant will have the opportunity to see with the heart, to touch with the spirit, and to to bring into the world that light of hope that, as Saint Francis said, “no darkness can ever extinguish.”.
