Rome and Assisi Pilgrimage: Part 2, Assisi

Early on Thursday morning, after breakfast and organizing groups, we boarded the buses for the second part of our pilgrimage and began the journey to Assisi.

Assisi is one of the most beautiful, peaceful places you will ever see.  As I walked the streets and through the churches and chapels there, it seemed no wonder to me that such great saints as St. Francis and St. Clare lived there.  It is such a peaceful place and it just feels filled with the presence of God.  As we drove towards it and I saw it on the mountainside, I wondered at the beauty.

Our first stop was at Our Lady Queen of Angels Cathedral.  This church is home to the Portiuncula Chapel that St. Francis built.  He cherished this chapel and always told his friars, "If anyone sends you out the front door of this church, come in through the back."  He also said that this chapel was a most special place to Our Lady.
There are many beautiful side chapels in the church.  We didn't have very much time here, so I didn't get to see everything, but I did get to pray in the Portiuncula, and ran back to see the statue of St. Francis where the live doves come and rest in his basket, as well as the rose gardens.

The Portiuncula Chapel.

Inside the Portiuncula.

This is the statue where the live doves come to perch.  They were cooing, too. :)

We traveled up into the main part of Assisi after our visit to Mary Queen of Angels.  The view of the city was beautiful.  The buses couldn't take us all the way, so we had to walk up the steeper part of the hill to get into town, but it was a lovely walk.  

Mass that evening was at Cathedral San Rufino.  Rufino was one of the original Franciscan brothers of Francis' order.  

This is the baptismal font where Sts. Francis and Clare were baptized. :) The beginning of the journey.  

After Mass, I wandered the streets of Assisi for a while, browsing in shops, and I found a nice statue of St. Francis that I decided to buy.  After dinner, we had adoration in the church Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (Our Lady Over Minerva).  This church was once a temple to the pagan goddess Minerva, but Our Lord and Our Lady triumph over all pagan deities, and so it has been converted into a Catholic church.  :)  

The next morning, we had Mass in the Basilica de Santa Chiara.  :) There was a breathtaking view of Assisi from the front of the church.  

The fact that there were Poor Clares and Franciscans around, too, made us smile.  The basilica is also home to the original San Damiano Cross, from which Christ spoke to St. Francis and told him: "Francis, rebuild my church, which as you see is falling into ruin around you."  It seemed a perfect place to pray about God's will for my life. :) Another cool fact about the San Damiano Cross is that Christ's head protrudes from the cross ever since He spoke to St. Francis there.  It's not flat like the rest of the cross.   The basilica is also where St. Clare is buried.  She is incorrupt. :) 

The tomb of St. Clare is in the back.  

After Mass in the basilica, we had a walking tour, led by the TOR sisters, of Assisi that would take us down to San Damiano Chapel.  

Photo credit: Kassie I.

The really awesome part about Assisi for me was that I felt like I got to know St. Francis and St. Clare much better and more personally by walking through the town where they had lived, and hearing their stories connected with the places that we saw.  St. Clare basically went against her social standing and her family's wishes to join the religious movement that Francis was starting.  She was the daughter of a wealthy family and she was very beautiful.  Her family wanted her to marry well; but she wanted to give everything to God the way St. Francis and his followers had.  So she went out "the death door," a door opened only when there was a death in the family in order to take the body outside, in order to run away from home (how symbolic of the death to self!).  Then she went to the bishop, who let her pass through the hidden escape tunnel out of the city because she could not have gotten through the main gates because of the guards.  

Clare went to Francis.  He took her to a number of Benedictine monasteries first, and eventually she came to stay at San Damiano.  This was not how she had expected her vocation would be; she thought that she would see a lot more of Francis and do more with him as her brother in Christ; but God and Francis had different ideas.  What made me fall in love with St. Clare, though, was that, despite the fact that her vocation ended up being much different than what she had thought it would be, she embraced it all as the will of God and she lived her vocation faithfully.  She trusted in God's will and lovingly embraced His plan for her.  "Not my will, but Your be done."     

Photo credit: Marykate H.

When we got down near San Damiano, we saw the church was surrounded by a beautiful olive grove!   It was a breathtaking spot, and, like much of Assisi, so peaceful.  We listened to Francis' canticle of the sun, which he wrote when he was actually severely blind.  It was even painful for him to be exposed to a little bit of light, and yet he praises the glory of the creation, starting with the sun.

This statue of St. Francis outside of San Damiano is his actual height!  Short buddies!! :) Yes, he was taller than me.  I think he was 5'1".

Here are a few pictures from around San Damiano!

St. Clare's choir chapel. :)

The room where St. Clare died. 

The dining room of the Poor Clares. 

This statue commemorates when St. Clare took the Eucharist with her out of San Damiano and stood at the entrance to the Church as invaders were coming.  They turned and ran away! 

We (myself and two friends) walked back to the hotel from San Damiano, singing Franciscan hymns and harmonizing them.  After lunch, we began our walk up to the Franciscan hermitage in the mountains!  It was a long walk, but it was beautiful, and praise God for such a beautiful day to make the journey.

 I found the Eucharistic chapel shortly after arriving.  The quiet atmosphere was so conducive to prayer.  I felt so much peace in this place, sitting in the presence of God up in the quiet of the Assisi mountains.  No wonder St. Francis and his brothers came to pray up here!

It was wonderful just wandering around the woods of the mountains.  So much peace!   

I was able to catch the shuttle down to Assisi then, which was really fun.  We walked into town, and climbed up onto a random city wall to see the view.  :)  It was beautiful!  From there, we went further into town to find the leather-maker's shop.  His name is Maro, and his work is beautiful!  He hardly speaks any English, but he loves the students from our university and is so happy to make things for us.  I ordered a cover for my Bible, and I'm so excited to see it!! I think they come in this week. :) I also got a satchel from him.  Before we left, he gave each of us a big hug, too. :)  

We finished out the night with dinner, and a special time of praise and prayer in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (a Festival of Praise, for those of you who know what it is).    

The next morning, we had Mass at the Tomb of St. Francis in the Basilica de San Francesco!!  This was another of my favorite places.  It was just amazing to be right at the burial place of St. Francis.  The statue in front of the basilica is of St. Francis when he returned to Assisi.  He had set out to go to war (again, since before he had been in war and been captured), but he fell ill.  He had a dream that God said to him, "Francis, whom is it right to serve: the master or the servant?" "The master," Francis answered.  "Why, then, do you serve the servant instead of the Master?"  So Francis returned to Assisi to determine the will of God. 

(Here is a picture from the web of the altar at the tomb.) 

After Mass, we were given a tour of the basilica.  :) In the main part of the church, there are painted frescoes of numerous scenes from the life of Francis, which were really interesting.  I enjoyed observing them.  At the front of the church, there is a mural of the Church Triumphant, Church Suffering, and Church Militant, with some very interesting portrayals of how prayer and penance save souls and the proper and improper way to embrace death.  

So, I thought it was going to be a warm day, so I didn't wear a jacket.  When we got out of Mass, though, it was chilly unless you were in the sun.  So, my dear friend Rachel let me borrow her coat. :)  It was really funny, though, because since both of us are Rachel, my friend Leah would get confused because I was wearing her coat.
She called it "Rachel-ception."  Haha!

 

The statue at the spot where Francis forsook all worldly possessions. 

After our tour and lunch, we had a lot of free time!  Two of my friends really enjoy photography, and there are so many beautiful spots in Assisi, especially near San Damiano, so we did a photo shoot!  I'd love to share a few of the photos they captured!  All credit goes to Kassie Ice, and Bernadette Scott of Pure Image Photography (check out the Facebook page!).  

 

Climbed an olive tree in Assisi!! :D

 

All in all, a lovely, lovely day with some beautiful daughters of God!  :) We then had a vigil Mass, since the following day was Sunday.  I really wanted to catch the sunset, but Mass got out later than I thought, so I didn't see the sunset; but I caught the aftermath.  :)  But even though I didn't get to see the sunset, something really beautiful happened at Mass.  It's a tradition of the school that when we go to Assisi, and before we leave, each of us is given a Tau Cross.  The Tau Cross is actually a symbol carried on from the Old Testament.  It was the badge of honor of those who remained faithful to God through the hardships and persecutions.  The two bars stand for Conversion and Redemption.  St. Francis encouraged his brothers to be "walking Tau Crosses," instruments of Redemption and active in constant conversion.  At Mass, the crosses were blessed, and then each of us came forward to be vested in the Tau Cross.

The next morning, we left this peaceful city and returned to Gaming.  It was a long trip, but it went by comfortably actually.  Thank you all for your prayers for us during this 10-day pilgrimage, and over our pilgrimage to Poland.  Both were tremendously blessed experiences.  God bless you all!