Part of our orientation program involved a trip to Assisi and have kind of mini retreat, which involved Mass at different locations (Basilica of St. Francis, Eremo delle Carceri hermitage, and St. Mary of the Angels), free time to visit the beautiful medieval city, and two fantastic Eucharistic themed conferences.
There was so much to see and I didn’t get to see it all…so I will have to go back sometime! We arrived Friday afternoon and Mass was celebrated in the Basilica of St. Francis. I spent the afternoon there visiting the museum, the ancient and famous frescos, and of course St. Francis’ tomb.
Saturday morning I visited the Basilica of St. Claire, which has the body of St. Claire and the crucifix from which St. Francis heard Christ speak to him and tell him to rebuild His Church. Later Saturday morning many of us hiked the 3 mile journey to the hermitage up in the mountains that St. Francis would visit once a year. It was a beautiful and peaceful place.
Sunday we left Assisi, which is on the mountain, and visited what is called New Assisi at the base. The church encloses a small Benedictine chapel, which is called Porziuncola (meaning ‘little portion’ – St. Francis used to say he only had a little portion of faith! If that is so then what do we have?!). The chapel used to be in the middle of a forest and he would love to visit it. He actually died near it so the large church was build around it to protect it.
St. Francis was given the painful gift of the wounds of Christ (stigmata) and owned nothing except for the tunic he wore. Near the Benedictine chapel he was tempted to renounce his penitential life so he jumped in a briar patch, which suddenly changed into a rose bush. It still exists without thorns and blooms.
Some of the fruits we see today because of St. Francis and St. Claire (since the 13th century) are the different Franciscan and Poor Claire religious orders such as those at the Eternal Word Television Network (Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word and the Poor Claire Nuns of Perpetual Adoration – see my JPII Society Pilgrimage journal).
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