In Memoriam: Gerhard Ruf

Padre Gerhard Ruf, O.F.M. Conv., well-known expert of the iconography and frescoes of the Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi, died on December 29, 2008 at the age of 81 years.

Father Ruf was born in 1927 in Kaiserslautern. There he went to school and completed his baccalaureate in 1943. Then he was drafted as an unusually young German soldier. After coming home from captivity in Russia in October 1945, he joined the Conventual Franciscan Province of St. Elisabeth at Würzburg in 1947. He completed his philosophical and theological studies in Fribourg, Switzerland. He professed his solemn vows in 1951 and was ordained as a priest in 1953.

In summer 1959 he was sent to the Sacro Convento in Assisi "to help out for a few months" in order to assist German speaking pilgrims. He remained a member of the Sacro Convento di San Francesco until he died nearly half a century later.

Having met Father Ruf in 1981 – me being a young photographer at the start of my profession, doing a bicycle tour in the footsteps of the life of Saint Francis – he became a very good friend. This led to three major publications together. I recall how he organized the scaffolds needed to photograph the Upper Church and the chapels of the Lower Church. He found ways to raise my "4x5 and 8x10" cameras to lofty heights, with the help of a very old rope. I recall working fifteen meters above the floor, feeling as though every heartbeat might move the scaffold and bring out blurred images, with the multiple flashes needed for each exposure. But what a feeling, working with him during the nights, sometimes accompanied by a brother playing the organ of the Basilica …

Ever eager to newly discover forgotten knowledge of the medieval iconography within the fresco cycles of San Francesco in Assisi, Father Ruf not only published groundbreaking books about the Basilica but he also helped others with numerous book projects over many years, all of which concerned the famous church of Saint Francis.

Warm-hearted as he was, he not only set down his immense knowledge of the church and medieval theology in his published works but more importantly he transmitted it into the minds of the people who joined him on his guided tours through the Basilica. Sometimes during the summer he did this two or three times a day. He loved to share his love for the church of St. Francis with others.

After the 1997 earthquake, which left the Basilica and the Sacro Convento di San Francesco and all of Assisi shaken with the loss of some important works of Cimabue, Giotto and their schools, he and I decided to help preserve the Franciscan heritage with our own private project: setting up an image database of the riches found in San Francesco and other historic places important to the Franciscan Order: http://www.assisi.de.

During the years since 1997 we managed to do high resolution scans of ca. 2,500 large format ektachromes which Padre Gerhard photographed on his own or had donated from other photographers as well as 12,000 black and white images. Over the last few years we put all our energy into physically preserving these – sometimes very old – images, transferring them into new envelopes, new folders, cataloging them, etc. He generously shared the fruits of these images with those working at Saint Louis University to develop the interactive CD, The Virtual Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

There is still so much work left to do after his death. But Father Gerhard made the world, the academy, and the Franciscan Order more aware of the need to help to preserve these precious images of our heritage that tell the story of St. Francis for generations to come. He will be greatly missed by his confreres and by all who love Assisi. I especially feel his absence.