Mid-morning, we got back on our bus (a Mercedez-Benz, no less), and headed up into the hills of the original city of Assisi. Up, and up, and up!!!
We met up with a tour guide who provided us with an earpiece so we could here her, even if we were a little ways away. This was especially nice for touring churches when silence was enforced by guards...we could still hear even though she was talking very quietly.
Like I said, Assisi is nestled into the hills (seriously, hilly, this city puts Duluth to shame!) and is completely walled. The surrounding area was farmland, mostly sunflowers and hay fields (that's right Dad, hilly, treacherous HAY FIELDS!), with the occasional vineyard. We entered the city through a large gate and seemingly stepped back in time. Many of the buildings featured a pink limestone, which is local, or were stacked stone. All had red, tiled roofs and iron barred windows. And, I've never seen so many window baskets of geraniums! A feast for the eyes for sure!
Our tour guide first brought us to San Chiari, which is where St. Clare's tomb is located. The upper church had a few frescoes but they had mostly been removed; the nave was actually quite plain (simple lighting, undecorated pews, little ornamentation). We looked around briefly before going into the lower level which housed relics of St. Francis and St. Clare. There was a portion of a (horse) hair-shirt which St. Clare wore, as well as a full habit (dress and cloak) and her cinture. Regrettably, almost all of the captions were in Italian, so I could only pick out a word here and there.
Also in the lower level is the tomb of St. Clare. I was able to kneel and pray just feet away from her body for a few moments but the crowd was thick and I want others to have a turn too! (Those of you who gave me an intention, know that it was prayed for at the tomb of St. Clare.)
Next, we entered through the second city gate (after the city was initially expanded due to Franciscan popularity) and saw a good sampling of the local shops....gelaterias, pizzarias, panini shops, and lots of religious goods.
After entering and leaving the original city gates, we arrived at the Basilica of St. Francis. The upper church was heavily decorated with frescoes, although part had to be rebuilt after the earthquake of 1997; it was not hard to find the "fixed" parts. Several parts of the roof had fallen in and two brothers (plus two lay people) had died. Amazingly, none of the stained-glass windows were damaged! Our tour guide talked about the artist who decorated the upper church (again, no photos allowed inside), then we headed into the crypt church.
Also heavily decorated, the crypt church at St. Francis was probably my favorite thing I've seen so far...I have a thing for crypts, I guess. There was just so much to take in, sadly, I must admit, I don't remember much. The image we see of St. Francis so often was taken from one of the frescoes in this crypt church.
Here, we also visited the tomb of St. Francis. Unlike St. Clare, his body is buried, but the area of the tomb has been excavated around and a very simple stone chapel was built (after his body had been secretly buried there for over 500 years). There were some beautiful Sisters praying in the chapel and I wondered how many thousands of Franciscans had spent thousands or millions of hours in prayer because of the example of this man. My spirit and prayer life is Franciscan (I think this is largely due to my mom's Franciscan spirit, and, even though my dad may not know it, his heart is Franciscan too:) ) and it was beautiful to be able to kneel before his tomb and ask him to intercede on behalf of myself and those I love. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if I ever join an order, surely, it will be a Franciscan order!
Our guided tour ended after our time at the Basilica of St. Francis and we were free to explore the city for 3 hours before returning to the bus. I went with some of the other girls to a pizzaria and had a delicious slice of mushroom and mozzarella pizza (the mozzarella was fresh). My pizza and meal was 6 euro, which, with the current exchange rate and the cost to change the money, was about equal to $10. It was yummy and the company was good ;)
After this, we walked down to San Pietro where I tried to make my holy hour, but kept falling asleep. The Blessed Sacrament was reserved in a side chapel (photos ALLOWED!), which was not as fancy as some of the other chapels we'd seen, but the whole while I was in there, only two others came in to light candles.
After San Pietro, we (Tracy (a girl from Brainerd and one of my roomates) and I) walked up a never-ending hill (seriously, we would reach what appeared to be the top, then the road would turn and there was just more and more hill!) past two other churches to San Apollinaire where we stopped briefly. After this, we sat in the shade and enjoyed the beautiful view before heading back downhill to the bus. We were a bite early for returning to the bus, so we treated ourselves to some gelato. We each had a cone of vanilla with chocolate swirls and some small chocolate bits that reminded me of the truffle bits at DQ.
Off-da! What a full but beautiful day! The weather was fantastic (warm and sunny, but breezy enough to keep from getting too hot). The sights were beautiful! And, my heart is very satisfied :)
We bussed the 2.5 or 3 hours back to Roma this evening (I slept nearly the entire way...I fell asleep before we were even all the way down hill from Assisi) to settle into our hotel and eat supper. Tomorrow, the Vatican!
St. Lawrence, St. Francis, and St. Clare, pray for us that our hearts may be filled with charity for all creatures and a fervor to live as the good Lord calls each of us.
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