Blessed Luchesio and Buonadonna

by Fr. Amando Trujillo Cano, TOR

On April 28, the Church celebrates the memorial of blessed Luchesio, who has been traditionally considered as the first member of the Third Order of Saint Francis, along with his wife Buonadonna. However, we still can keep their spiritual legacy in mind and reflect on it since it represents some of the origins of what we now call the Secular Franciscan Order. Celebrating our new life in Christ during Easter time also nourishes our desire to renew our Franciscan way of life, which shines through the example of all of our holy ancestors of the Franciscan family.

​The earliest hagiographical sources on Luchesio and Buonadonna are late (XIV and XV centuries) and have come to us with very clear signs of being reworked in order to adjust to hagiographical styles of the time and place of origin. Luchesio was born in Gaggiano, Chianti, around the years 1180-1200, in a family of peasants. He married Buonadonna, from a well-to-do family of Borgo Marturi, and they had several children. He got involved in politics and became the leader of one of the political parties in Tuscany. Because the political environment became very agitated, the family decided to move to Poggibonsi, where Luchesio skillfully devoted himself to commercial activities and became rich and avaricious.

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