Assisi-- Part 2

Assisi was, for me in many ways, about recognizing the guardian angels among us.  They got us through the train strike and into Assisi----and then the first night we were there we stopped at a restaurant that a friend had recommended.  It wasn't open yet (don't even think about dinner in Italy until at least 7!)--so we went to a different restaurant that had also been recommended.  They opened sooner, so we decided to wait.  Close to opening time, a guy joined us by the door and started talking with us, telling us that it was a great restaurant, and that he was in Assisi working on sabbatical, etc----so we invited him to join us for dinner and ended up with a wonderful new friend and tour guide.  Fr Dave is from North Dakota, and has been living in Assisi for a few months, so he is very knowledgable about the area.  The next day, he took us to visit Santa Maria degli Angeli, built over the site of the Porzinciula (the first church that Francis restored) and also the Transito chapel, the site of Francis' death.  He met up with us again later for dinner -- the restaurant was near the Basilica and we sat on the terrace with a 180 degree view of the Umbrian valley.  We sat for nearly 4 hours and talked and talked and talked into the night.  What a gift he was---another guardian angel!

Tourists are everywhere during the middle of the day.  The tour guides mostly speak in English--that is becoming the common language for a lot of the world.  We were blocked from leaving the little church built over the original home and birthplace of St. Francis by a group from India, and we got to hear part of the "tour" as we waited.  The tour guide was talking about when Pope Francis visited Assisi last Fall---and then she excitedly told the group, "And then the Holy Father had lunch with 57 REAL poor people!"  You can not make this stuff up----we had to stifle ourselves until they left, because all three of us were thinking the same thing: REAL poor people?  As opposed to what? FAKE poor people?  You had to be there.....

Assisi has a stillness and spirit that I have never experienced anywhere else.  Once the tourists leave for the day, it takes on a different feel-- the quiet and the spirituality seems to permeate everything---even the cheesy gift shops with St. Francis bobble-heads for sale.  As we were walking by the shops, I was reflecting on how most people who have a St. Francis statue in their back yard (I have one!) forget that Francis, while he loved all of Creation, also had a radical commitment to the poor.  He is one very challenging saint----and we should not dismiss him so easily, by only seeing his love love of Creation.  Francis walked the talk in ways that most of us would never consider----because it's challenging and scary.  

It also occurs to me that visiting Assisi can be somewhat akin to going up to the Mountain of Transfiguration and wanting to stay there.  But that story, and this one, are all about the reality that what goes up must come down.....

Photos:

1. Assisi bells

2, 3.  Porzinciula--exterior and interior

4.  Transito chapel

5.  Font where St. Francis and St. Clare were baptized in San Ruffino

6. Medieval confessional in San Stefano

7.  Room where St. Francis' father kept him imprisoned

8.  Dinner (Fr Dave, Terri, me)

9.  The view!

(be sure to click on the photos to get the full experience!)

Assisi -- Part 1

Assisi is a place that so many of us dream about visiting----and sometimes those dreams come true.

We arrived--train strike and all--dropped our stuff at the hotel, and immediately went to the Basilica of St. Francis----luckily it was late in the afternoon, which means that the day-tripper tourists were in the process of leaving.  Even Assisi is chaotic when full of tourists---esp. tourists who aren't religious and treat it as a tourist site instead of a holy site.

We stayed for quite some time---and spent a lot of it in the crypt praying in front of the tomb of St. Francis---one of the most prayerful and peaceful places in Assisi---until the tourists come in and ignore the signs that say "Silence" in every possible language.

We left the Basilica and walked up to Santa Chiara---the Basilica of St. Clare.  Her relics lie in a crypt on the lower level---what you actually see is a wax figure in a Franciscan habit.  The "real" relics are visible only to the sisters who live in community there---but the cute distraction was the nun who was clearly visible behind St. Clare, taking flash photos of the "real" relics.  She kept taking photos, and then ducking down.  I didn't catch her in the act with my camera.  And if you want to see the 'real' relics, you can ask Google to show you!

The most prayerful place in Santa Chiara is the small chapel where the original San Damiano cross hangs.  This is the cross that spoke to St. Francis, telling him to rebuild the church.  We actually spent approx. 5 mins alone in the chapel, with the quiet, the solitude, and the San Damiano cross---until the peace was interrupted by a large group of tourists from an Eastern European country, let by a very loud priest who ignored the big "Silence" sign---he started doing loud tour guide stuff, then started loud prayers, then they started singing a hymn.  We left as quickly as we could and noticed that the basilica staff was visibly concerned with the noise---not sure what they did about it.  I love singing in church, and I love most hymns---but this wasn't the time or place.  As it turns out----they seemed to follow us everywhere!  

But, we were in Assisi----so, pace e bene.

Photos:

1.  Assisi Train station

2.  A street in Assisi

3.  Basilica of St. Francis

4.  Fresco of St. Francis--lower Basilica (attributed to Cimabue and one of the oldest images of Francis)

5.  Mary Magdalene chapel--lower Basilica

6.  St. Francis' tomb

7.  San Damiano cross at Santa Chiara

8.  Relics of St Clare

9.  Assisi

Getting To Assisi

It seems that a visit to Italy is incomplete without a train strike.

On the way to our train in Siena, we ran across 3 confused looking American college students who were trying to figure out the train ticket/validation system, which can be confusing.  They were very sweet, and grateful, and we felt like we had paid something forward, since folks had earlier helped us.  We left Siena, headed for Assisi, changed trains in Chiusi-Chianciano.  We were supposed to change trains in Terontola, but......the door wouldn't open, so we had to ride to the next stop and get off there (my sister and I had a similar experience in England 12 years ago----hilarious!).  So, there we were at the stop in Camucia-Cortona--where there is .......nothing.  Nada.  By this, of course, I mean NO BATHROOMS!!!

And we looked up at the video screen and saw the list of trains that were coming our, trying to figure out which one to take.....problem was that they all had "SOP" next to them.  Then we found out what SOP means------there was a train strike.  And we were stuck at Camucia-Cortona----with no bathrooms.  No food, no big deal.  No bathrooms.......oh dear.  I went into the station to see if we could find out any info, and there was no one in the ticket booth----but there were two confused American college students trying to buy tickets, which were not coming out of the machine.  I suggested that perhaps the tickets were not being sold because there was a train strike going on.  College student #1 looked at me like I was crazy, and said, in the snottiest of tones ever .."are you SURE?"  The tone was something along the lines of "well, you are the most incompetent and stupid adult ever..."  I told her that my train had been canceled and hers likely had been as well.  She ignored me and kept banging at the machine.  Her friend said nothing, and just stared at me like I was crazy.  Well, I am, so there.  Deal.

We amused ourselves by trying to come up with creative acronyms for SOP that didn't involve profanity.  Shut Out of Passage.  I have no idea what SOP means in Italian, and I don't think that I want to.....take some guesses in the comment section, and be polite.

At any rate, my new "friends" went to the other platform to wait for their train to Florence, which had no hope of arriving, so that they could catch their 4PM plane (this happened around noon---a little tight, no?).  It took two announcements for them to understand that the train really, really, really wasn't coming.  They even announce these things in English and Italian!  Our young friends soon walked away and we never saw them again.  

Meanwhile........we kept watching the monitor and praying for a train that would get us back to Terontola and a BATHROOM, because really, what else matters at that point?  And, within an hour, 1 train showed up that did not have SOP next to it on the schedule!  So, we went back to Terentola, thanked God for the guardian angel that got us there, found a non-sketchy bathroom, and waited for a train that might take us to Assisi.  Long story short----all the trains that went to Florence were canceled, as well as most of the trains to Rome.  The only other train that didn't have SOP next to it was the one to Assisi.  Saintly intervention?  I think so.

So, thanking God again for guardian angels, we jumped on the train to Assisi and arrived with only a 2 hour delay----and a great story to tell.

Photo:

Platform in Chiusi-Chianciano

Florence to Siena

We left Florence, its art, and its mosquitos behind.  We left with many, many souvenirs of the mosquitos.........I know, TMI.

One stop at Santa Maria Novella --- beautiful church right across from the train station.  Santa Maria Novella has Giotto's "Crucifixion" in the center of the space, and it is exquisite to pray and meditate in the presence of this beautiful crucifix.

Next stop---Siena.  

As we sat down on the train, 3 American women got on---with too much luggage.  There are lots of polite Italian boys who will help you onto the train and load your luggage into the racks for you----but these kids expect to be tipped.  Personally, I don't let anyone I don't know touch my luggage, but other people can do what they want.  The women seemed irritated that the young men wanted some money.  They finally gave them something and then spent most of the ride from Florence to Siena complaining loudly so that anyone in the car who could understand English could hear ...."well, can't people see that we are 3 women traveling together and need some help?  SOMEONE could have helped us.  This is just terrible that people expect something from you...." and on and on and on.......seriously.  Everyone on the train who could understand them just rolled their eyes.  These women were so rude and entitled-----and I felt embarrassed that this is how many of us behave when we travel.  I saw it all over the place.  My fellow Americans.....you bring too much luggage.  Do not bring what you can't carry.  And stop acting like you are better than everyone else and expecting the rest of the world to show up to help you with your overwhelming amount of stuff, just because you are an American with entitlement issues.  The rest of the world does not exist to serve us, and it is high time that Americans who travel understand this.

 I have never come back from any trip wishing that I had taken more stuff.  Ok, rant over.  

Siena..

We stopped at the beautiful Duomo--likely one of the most decorated and complex cathedrals you could ever imagine.  And then we went to San Domenico to visit Catherine of Siena's relics.  Well, some of them.  Let me explain....

First I have to go back to Rome and tell you about Santa Maria Sopra Minerva---built over the Temple of Minerva.  This is a lovely, quiet church near the Pantheon in Rome.  It houses the tomb of Fra Angelico, the great Dominican artist responsible for some of the most beautiful frescos in church history---the ones at San Marco in Florence, for starts.

It also houses the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena.  Well, most of her, anyways.  Catherine died in the rooms behind the sacristy in this church.  According to legend,  the Romans wanted to keep her body in Rome.  The people of Siena didn't particularly care for this idea.  When Catherine was exhumed in Rome, as part of her canonization process, her body was mostly incorrupt---but her head was disconnected from the rest of her body.  So......the people from Siena spirited her head out of Rome----they were stopped outside of the city, and when the bag containing her head was opened, her head was miraculously replaced by flowers.  By time they got to Siena, it had regained its earlier form, and that is where it remains, in a reliquary at a side altar in San Domenico.  They have her thumb, too.  Europeans do death differently than we do in America.  

So, we visited San Domenico and then moved on to visit the house where St. Catherine lived---just down the street (and yes, I mean DOWN).  Siena is one of the hill towns---and one of the most beautiful cities in Italy----especially after the tour buses leave and take the day tripping tourists with them.  Walking up and down in Siena was good practice for Assisi and for life.  

Photos:

1.  Giotto's "Crucifixion"---Santa Maria Novella

2.  Cloisters--Santa Maria Novells

3.  Masaccio's "Trinity" fresco----3D if you stand in the right place!!

4, 5---Duomo in Siena

6.  Chapel in St. Catherine's house

7.  Exterior of St. Catherine's house

8.  Reliquary with St. Catherine's head---too much light, which is probably just as well...

9.  St. Catherine's tomb, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome

Florence

We arrived in Florence to a beautiful, sunny and much cooler day.  We are at a hotel that could have been in the movie "A Room With a View" (the view part--not the room!)--we walk out the door and the Baptistry (covered in scaffolding for restoration work) is RIGHT THERE!

We validated our Firenze cards (great value!) and started walking.....

Santa Croce is one of the churches that I have most wanted to see----it houses the tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, and Michiavelli-----THAT Machiavelli.

The most beautiful part of the church is on the walls----so many frescos by Giotto, Gaddi......and one of the most famous and beautiful frescos is "The Death of St. Francis"----on a side wall, in the Francis chapel to the right of the main altar.  Santa Croce doesn't get as much traffic as some of the other churches----but it should.

Of course, we went around to all of the really big museums--the Accademia, San Marco, the Bargello, the Uffizi.  My favorite is San Marco----the monastery where Fra Angelico lived and fresco-ed everything in the house.  The monk's cells each had a fresco.  The biggest cell/s had belonged to Savonarola--the Dominican preacher who was condemned as a heretic and executed---but the monks at San Marco consider him as a martyr.

The most beautiful fresco at San Marco is Fra Angelico's "Annunciation"---breathtaking.

I feel like I have completely gorged on world famous art......and I can't show much of it to you because they don't allow photos at most of the places we went.....

Photos:

1.  Ponte Vecchio

2.  Fun in the Uffizi bookshop

3.  Facade--Florence Duomo

4.  David

5.  Fra Angelico "Annunciation"

6.  Fra Angelico  "Sermon on the Mount"

7. Plaque that commemorates Savonarola's execution

8.  Santa Croce facade

9.  Michelangelo's tomb

10.  Giotto  "The Death of St. Francis"

Vatican Museums

The museums, like everything else in Rome, are loaded....

The Vatican Museums house the most vast collection of art one could imagine.  We spent and entire afternoon, and still didn't see everything, but there is a point when one goes on overload, and you have to get away from the crush of people.  The Sistine Chapel is the highlight for everyone----I would love to go there when hardly anyone is there, but I have no clue as to when that might be.  

It was a great blessing, to be in the same chapel where the papal conclaves are held---and it was also jarring and, at times, hilarious.  One is supposed to be silent in the Sistine chapel.  But no one is.  

There is a microphone at each end of the chapel, and one is for the guy who yells at you in every possible language to be silent.  It works for about 30 seconds.  Then the noise builds and builds and builds until he yells at everyone to be silent again.  And on and on and on.  I think that I would hate this particular job.  

And there is more.... immediately after the guy yells at everyone to be silent, the guy on the other microphone yells at everyone to not take photos.  Of course, no one obeys him either (see below).  It's rather like Vespers---where one side of the church reads their part of the psalm, and then the other side reads theirs.  I think they should just give up----it would be less jarring.

But, it's good to imagine the cardinals all sitting there, talking about whatever they talk about, casting their ballots, and electing the pope.  If walls could speak.....

Photos:

1.  Ceiling of Constantine chapel

2.  "Crucifixion"--Salvador Dali

3.  Sistine Chapel ceiling

Churches and more Churches--+ the Capuchin Zombie Apocalypse

It has been the week to visit churches, for sure.  Pilgrims and tourists mix together--and so the more popular churches tend to be crowded and chaotic, but there are places to hide out if you want to, oh, actually pray...

It is a gift to be here to not only see these houses of worship and to pray in them, but to sense the spirits of all those who are entombed, celebrated, or present in other ways.  

Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri is beautiful----and has an unassuming facade.  You do not know what is there until you go inside. It is the last church that Michelangelo designed.  It has a wondrous meridian line----the church is built over the ruins of the baths of Diocletian.  Read about it here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_degli_Angeli_e_dei_Martiri

One of the most beautiful churches to visit is the minor basilica of Santa Prassede --one of the oldest churches in Rome, with some of the most beautiful, ancient and amazing mosaics:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Prassede

To see the chains that bound St Paul at St Paul Outside the Walls, and to pray before his tomb was powerful.  To see the chains that bound St. Peter at San Pietro in Vincoli was powerful as well.  

We just missed the Pope at Santa Maria Maggiore----we saw that there was a small crowd, with their cameras out, on the side of the church, and when we went inside, a cardinal came in with a policeman----we left and only found out two days later that the Pope had come to pray there prior to leaving for the Holy Land.  We haven't been following the news, so there you are.  Oh well.

One of my favorite churches is Santa Maria della Vittoria---the small church that houses Bernini's statue called "The Ecstasy of St. Teresa."  Fans of Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" will recognize this church from that book---although he moved it from where it really is to someplace that it isn't so that it would work better for the book.  Literary license, I suppose.  Don't use his book as a map!

No visit to Rome is complete without a visit to the Capuchin Crypt----not as creepy as I expected it to be but strange just the same.  You can see and read about it here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capuchin_Crypt

They don't allow photos, so that is the best I can do!  They now have a new museum that precedes the crypt--with a lot of historical information, and relics of Padre Pio, among others.  They have a very attentive hall monitor who makes sure that you don't even THINK about taking a photo---along with surveillance video to be extra sure.  As we were viewing the last of the "chambers" I jokingly asked Terri if she thought they had a gift shop----it turns out that they do!  No, I did not buy any of the skull earrings or other memorabilia--it seems a little goth to me, but our little experience of the Capuchin Zombie Apocalypse was interesting, and bizarre.

PS  Please be sure to click on the photos to see them in their entirety----the ones that are in landscape mode don't show properly unless you do!

Photos:

1.  Santa Maria degli Angeli e Martiri (meridian line)

2.  The Ecstasy of St. Teresa at Santa Maria della Vittoria

3.  Michelangelo's vault in Santa Maria degli Angeli e Martiri 

4.  Mosaics in the St. Zeno chapel in Santa Prassede

5. The chains that bound St. Peter at San Pietro in Vincoli

6.  The altar before the tomb of St. Paul---the illuminated area above holds the chains that bound him

7.  A homeless man finding sanctuary in Santa Maria Maggiore

8.  St. Paul's Outside the Walls facade