Sept. the 12th

     Now, exactly a month later, I will tell you what I did on Wednesday, September 12, 2012, Pilgrimage Week.
     Father said Mass for us at Santa Chiara that morning, and we left for Siena that afternoon. We went from Umbria to Tuscany and saw a lake with a mountain in it on the way.
     Our hotel in Siena was awesome because it was right next door to St. Catherine's house. When the windows of the conference room were open, we could hear people praying in the chapel. It was really nice. (It also made finding the hotel easier.)
     Although the bathrooms were hideously decorated, we had an awesome view of the Duomo. We also had REAL room keys, the old-fashioned kind. As cool as they were, they were hard to figure out.
     The end. Anti-climactic, I know, but most of the day was spent in packing, traveling, and unpacking. Thursday was more eventful. :)

Tuesday in Lower Assisi

     So the first thing we did Tuesday was a Rosary walk down the mountain to Lower Assisi, where Fr. Bergida said Mass for us in a small chapel in Santa Maria Degli Angeli. This church is a Franciscan church after which was named a mission in the US. It's current name? LA. Santa Maria de los Angeles is the (Spanish) name of both this church in Assisi and the town in California. Cool trivia.

     On the way down, you'll see a number of thornless rose bushes. The story is that St. Francis jumped into a rosebush in order to distract himself from temptations. After this, the roses lost their thorns.

 

On the way to Mass

     After Mass we had a tour of the church. Very fun tour guide. We started outside on the steps of the church, from whence you can see the Porziuncola: the church within a church. It's an absolutely beautiful little church, with an amazing altarpiece depicting the Annunciation. Alas, pictures were not allowed. I did find this, however: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/assisi-santa-maria-degli-angeli .

     This church's name comes from the word for the property on which it stood, "little portion." This chapel and the land around it was given to St. Francis and his brothers by the Benedictine monks who were here in the valley.

The Porziuncola

      St. Francis had a vision of Jesus and Mary when he was praying in this chapel, and they asked him what favor he wanted. St. Francis asked that a plenary indulgence be granted to all who pass through the doors of the church. Many pilgrims have since come to this little chapel.

Facade of Santa Maria Degli Angeli

     After the tour, we took a bus back up the mountain, had lunch, and then had free time, which time I spent church-hunting. Below is something you'll see in Italy--

The McDonald's emergency vehicle. :)

     During my free time, I found the location of Santa Maria delle Rose, but the church was closed, so I couldn't go inside. :(  I also found San Stephano, which I was able to enter. It was a cool, dark, out of the way church. To me, it looked like something that belongs in the English Isles, somewhere in the ruins of those green places.

     This church had some very deteriorated frescoes in it. I only saw two, but I'm sure all the walls were originally painted.

I wish I could have seen it brand new!
So many beautiful Marian images in these churches!

     And that pretty much concludes the last full day in Assisi. I've decided that it's nigh impossible to have one favorite church in Assisi. Now I'm waiting for some of you to jump on top of me and proclaim me wrong by telling me which was your favorite. :) Ah, well. I was never very good at the favorite game. By the way, here's a site with some pictures of San Francesco: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/assisi-san-francesco .

Assisi Day 2

     Once upon a time, on a Monday in Assisi, we the Christendom people didst depart our house of lodgings and didst walk down the hills to the Basilica of San Francesco. It's three churches all built on top of each other. They are built on and around the tomb of St. Francis. No pictures were allowed. The crypt chapel (which has in it the stone sarcophogus housing St. Francis' body. We had Mass down there. It was dark and plain, but it was very nice nonetheless.

Entrance to the lower (middle) basilica

Some of us girls with the countryside of Umbria behind us

 

     Then we had a guided tour of the middle and upper churches. There were amazing frescoes all over those two churches. The tour guide was fun and pointed out this one painting of St. Francis that was based on a description given by his nephew. The upper two churches reminded me of Santa Chiara. On the way back, I saw one of those freaky person-statues.

     That afternoon we had free time, in which I ate pizza at the fortress, took a walk, and revisited Santa Chiara, which I loved.

My casual lunch scenery

Here is where I started going through
 some serious wee bairn withdrawal.

 

     If you ever are in the mood for a frozen coffee drink, look for "Caffe Zero," it's a company that makes them. They are sold premade in these carboard-plastic cups, and you get the straw when you pay for them. They are kind of like coffee slushies. The mochachino (sp) one is good. I had one while staring out over the countryside by Santa Chiara.
     End of Day 2. Oh, and for dinner, I believe we had-- as usual-- way too much pasta.

Part 2 of Day 1 in Assisi

      The tour started in the common area. This plaza has government buildings, and St. Mary over Minerva. The Romans built a temple to Minerva (Athena) in Assisi; since then, it has been converted to a Catholic church, but the facade is still the original Roman one.

 

     Afterwards, we saw Chiesa Nuova, "New Church," the church which in St. Francis' house. (No, it's not new anymore.) Pictures were not allowed, so I only pictures of the outside. There's an ancient Roman well right outside the house which everyone (of course) just had to stand on.

     The next stop was San Rufino, named after the first bishop of Assisi who was martyred by the Romans. This church was in fact built before Sts. Francis and Clare were born, and there is a font inside where it is said they were baptized. (If you've seen the CCC cartoon version of St. Francis' life, you will recognize the church's facade. :) )






     Then.... Santa Chiara (St. Clare). I LOVED that church. It was done in a medeival style, with Gothic arches, flying buttresses, an icon-like style of painting. The ceilings were this strange shade of blue that I'd never seen before, with stars. It was so beautiful. This church also has in it THE crucifix of San Damiano. The crypt housed St. Clare's body. She was pretty tall woman. It's sad that I couldn't take any pictures, but at the same time, it gave me more time to soak it all in. Here's a link that has some pictures of it, though they really don't do it justice.
 http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/assisi-santa-chiara
     We had our Mass in the late afternoon at San Damiano. This was the first of our special, private
Masses... which people kept piggybacking on. :) All week, we'd have at least one person see that Mass was going on, and then join us.
     It was something of a hike to and from Mass, since San Damiano is outside the city walls. We passed by a lot of olive trees. There are so many in Assisi.
     Lunch and dinner were 4 course meals, and they gave us way too much pasta. Too much food.....
     That night, some of us students went up to the fortress. The view was incredible. So many lights below. Then musicians in one of the squares below started playing Michael Jackson songs. It was really funny.
     On the way to Assisi, we stopped at a gas station, and I saw this--

     Here in Italy, the Smurfs are called "I Puffi." There were posters for the movie everywhere last year. I took this pictures in honor of a certain Matt, who does a fabulous "I Puffi" voice.
     And there you have day 1 of Assisi.

Assisi Day 1 Part 1

      There is so much to cover! I loved Assisi. It's now one of my favorite places in the world. It was quiet, peaceful, clean, and it had practically no graffiti, unlike Rome.
     Driving towards the city, it looks a lot like Minas Tirith, which obviously made me very excited.



The church on the mid-left is the Basilica of San Francesco. The tower to the far right is the larger part of the Roman fortress; my hotel was pretty close to it. It was much closer to the fortress than it was to San Francesco.

     It was built by the Romans around the time of Christ, and is now divided into Upper and Lower Assisi. Upper Assisi is the older part of the city, built on the hill. Most of its buildings have the medeival outer structures with all the wrought-iron.... things-on-the-outside. There seem to be a lot of hill-top cities in Tuscany and Umbria (regions countaining Siena and Assisi, respectively).
     The streets are cobblestone, and people have flower-boxes out their windows, and painted tiles near their doors. And tile roofs.



A very normal street in Assisi

     There are 35 Catholic churches in Assisi (I think this includes Lower, but I'm not sure); the group saw about seven of them. Some of us explored the town and found more.
     We left Rome on Sunday morning and got into Assisi before noon. We checked into Hotel La Rocca (named after the fortress), and then the tours began. (Dramatic music.)