I haven’t put much on this blog since I
arrived in Italy from Jerusalem. I’m on a train to Milan right now, and even
though it’ll get there in just under 3 hours (I hope – I’ve got a connection to
Marseille to catch!) one can watch the passing scenery only so much! And it’s
passing quite rapidly – the train hits 300 kph.
From Jerusalem I arrived in Rome at our international
seminary, where John Larsen is the superior and there’s a community of Fijians,
Africans, a Tongan, a Dutchman, a couple of Solomon Islanders. They’re
expecting more – a Brazilian and a Mexican (who survived the formation house in
Mexico with me) and a Kiwi.
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| Turin with the Alps in the background |
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| The Basilica of the Promise - One of the Savoy Kings promised to build it if the locals defeated the French - which they did! |
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| Don Bosco - the mural in the lower basilica at Castel Nuovo de Don Bosco |
After a couple of days I headed off to
Turin, to visit a couple of the Italian Marists I worked with in Venezuela.
Turin is a complete change from Rome, tidy, organised and cold! I had a bit of
a look around – visited some of the monuments including Don Bosco City. St John
Bosco was a local lad who founded a religious congregation, the Salesians. They
have most of a city block dedicated to their schools and church.
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| The man himself and a relic |
Fr Angelo also took me out to Castel Nuovo
de Don Bosco, where John Bosco was born and bought up.
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| The upper basilica |
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| The family home |
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| Family home and the original church built onsite to commemorate Don Bosco |
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| And the new church! |
The day I left Turin, it was snowing, which
no one was expecting. I took in Pisa and Siena on the way back to Rome. The
photos tell the story!
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| The Duomo and Bell Tower |
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| Baptistry from above |
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| Duomo and tower |
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| John the Baptist |
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| Thoroughly bored with being dead! She's in the Campo Santo - the burial ground that forms part of the Pisa complex |
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| Campo Santo |
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| Campo Santo interior |
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| Baptistry, Duomo and Tower |
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| Siena Medieval street |
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| Siena - Piazza del Campo |
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| Cheeky bird ruined my photo |
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| Siena Duomo |
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| Inside the Duomo |
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| From the Duomo roof looking at Piazza del Campo |
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| The uncompleted part of the Duomo - which you can climb if you're mad |
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| Siena rooftops from the Duomo |
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| A bull on the front of the Duomo |
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| Lion, gargoyles, assorted nobles/kings and a horse |
On Palm Sunday we went to the Papal Mass.
There weren’t many there – only 20 thousand or so. Security was tight – x-ray
machines to get into St Peter’s square. The Mass was nice – the Pope looked a
bit frail, but got through it ok.
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| The retreat centre was halfway up a mountain |
That afternoon we headed for Clituna, to a
retreat centre, where the seminarians were going on retreat. The next day John
and I went to Pietralunga, a small medieval town that sits on the Via
Francigena di San Francesco.
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| Day one - outside Pietralunga |
Literally the French Way of St Francis, this is
the ancient way through Italy to France. St Francis’ father was in the rag
trade and travelled to France selling cloth. He was a real Francophile. Francis’
father was away when he was born and his mother had named him something else,
which his father changed to Francis in honour of France – given that he traded
so much with France. St Francis walked it – probably many times – between La
Verna and Assisi.
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| Pietralunga after a couple of hours walk! |
We were going to do four days walking to arrive in Assisi for
Good Friday.
The first day was quite long – about 26.5
kilometres. It was a glorious walk through the Umbrian countryside in early
spring. It drizzled almost the whole time. We eventually arrived in Gubbio –
where St Francis had an encounter with a wolf that was terrorizing the locals.
He tamed the wolf and in exchange for the villagers feeding it, stopped preying
on them!
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| Just a nice view |
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| There's snow on the hills in the background - John |
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| Gubbio |
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| A small church - attended to by a solitary Conventual Franciscan |
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| The outside - 13th century |
We stayed in an old convent – run by some
ancient but very energetic nuns. Pizza and wine fortified the spirits and early
next morning we set out for Biscina 23 or so kilometres away. Biscina is a tiny
village marked by a remarkably well preserved, but abandoned castle. It was
very cold – and the albergue we were booked into wasn’t where it was marked on
the map. Eventually the owner arrived where we were (installed in front of a
competing albergue’s fireplace!) and took us off. Unfortunately as we were the
first clients of the season, the water wasn't on, the beds weren’t made and the
heating wasn’t on. And it was very cold. However all these things came to pass!
The owner came and picked us up and took us to a restaurant – which, funny
enough, he owned! Dinner cost more than the rooms for the night! However it was
delicious.
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| Yet another Castle... |
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| Chapel - Our Lady of Grace |
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| Why it got so cold... |
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| Biscina castle |
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| Farmhouse in ruins |
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| The trail winds its way through this sort of countryside |
The next day we set out for Valfabbrica 16
kms away. We discovered the reason it was so cold the night before – the
distant hils were covered in snow. As the crow flies it was probably only about
7 or 8 kms, but the trail wound it way around what used to be a lake, now
emptied for repair work on the dam.
Valfabbrica is a small village with a heart
of medieval buildings and alleyways.
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| Donato and John |
We met Fr Donato, the Fijian vice superior
of the seminary there. Being Holy Thursday we headed to Mass at 10.30pm, hoping
to be present anonymously. The priest insisted we concelebrate – even in our
slightly tatty pilgrim clothes. The albs covered most of the tattiness! The
liturgy was quite impressive – there must have been about 16 or so altar boys,
various men who seemed to be decorations in albs and red capes and a couple of
women who did most of the work! After Mass we processed the Blessed Sacrament
to another church in the old part of town where we had an hour or so of
adoration. We were exhausted, but there wasn’t any way to get away!
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| Assisi in view - the Castle of Rocca Maggiore |
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| Basilica of St Francis, Assisi |
Good Friday we had a late start and trudged
our way toward Assisi. Eventually we could see the ancient castle that
dominates Assisi’s skyline. A final steep climb and we came into the cobbled
winding streets of Assisi. We found the pension where we had rooms, cleaned up
and it was time for the Liturgy of the Passion at St Francis’ Basilica.
Saturday was a quiet day as we, and the
rest of the Church, waited to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection. But what a
great place to spend wandering meditatively Holy Saturday – even if I was
accosted by a Seventh day Adventist (who turned out to be Donato playing silly
buggers!)
We attended the Vigil at 10.30pm in the
Church of St Clare where the Poor Clare nuns led the singing. It was quite long
– all seven readings and sung responses. Loads of families abandoned the
attempt during the Mass. I have to confess I had a little nap from time to time
too!
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| Good Friday Procession - the Penitents |
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| Our Lady of Sorrows accompanied by the guard |
The next morning the seminarians arrived at
Assisi from their retreat and we spent the day being tourists. That evening we
headed back to Rome and finished off our Sunday of the Resurrection with a
traditional Chinese dinner!
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| The view from one of the Castle's towers |
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| A statue of St Francis abandoning his clothes and wealth in front of the church where it took place |
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| Donato receives some advice from a living statue |
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| As does Chris - one of the seminarians |
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| Soane, Donato, Kenneth and John |
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| A final view |
