Welcome to Assisi!

So I woke up Wednesday morning and had breakfast with Sarah, Christa, and Maude. We then boarded the busses for our trip to Assisi! During our 2 hour drive I, naturally, went to sleep.

The next thing I knew we were at Santa Maria degli Angeli (Our Lady of the Angels)! This Church is not actually in the town of Assisi but is at the foot of the mountain on which Assisi is located and it was a place of great importance for St. Francis. Before entering the Church Fr. Brad gave a brief talk on some different points about the Church and about St. Francis.

One really cool story related to a statue we had seen the night before across the street from St. John Latteran. When St. Francis first went to the Pope to request permission to found a new religious order the Pope, I believe mainly on the advice of his advisors, said no. So Francis and his brothers began the journey back to Assisi but that night the Pope had a dream in which he saw Francis singlehandedly holding up the Church of St. John Latteran (the Pope's actual parish) which was falling down. So the Pope woke up and immediately sent for Francis and gave him permission to found this new religious order which came to be known as the Franciscans. Later on, this statue of Francis was built across the street from St. John Latteran so that when you look back at it you see Francis holding up the Church!

Inside Santa Maria degli Angeli is the original Portiuncula Chapel which is one of three Churches that Francis literally rebuilt after having a dream of the Lord telling him "Francis, rebuild my Church," not realizing that Christ meant the Church Church not the physical Church buildings. The portiuncula is also the place where St. Clare took her vows so it's a very special place for me.

There were absolutely beautiful stained glass windows behind the main altar!

And, while we were there, I lit candles for Aunt Brenda, cousin Theresa, and Grandpa Duggan. But I think I did it on the wrong day. I was supposed to light them on their birthday but I couldn't remember if their birthdays were Wednesday or Thursday so I lit them on Wednesday but I think their birthdays were actually on Thursday. Oops!

We then headed back to the busses and began to ascend the mountain. Those windy mountain roads are kinda scary! And yet so beautiful!

But, of course, the bus couldn't take us all the way up to Assisi so it dropped us off and we had to take an escalator up the side of the mountain! I thought that was pretty darn cool.

Once we got to our hotel we had a legit Italian lunch. First they serve us a delicious pasta! And then they come around with seconds. I was pretty hungry and the pasta was ridiculously good so I accepted. Then they come around with thirds! And when you decline the waitress looks at you like you have two heads! And then they come around with the main course - chicken and potatoes! And once you finish those they bring you a bowl of fruit for dessert! It was insane but it was so legitimately Italian! I loved it!

After lunch we had to check in to our room. So Amy and I climb up the first flight of stairs and see Ari getting into the elevator and we're like wait for us (cuz we all have our 500 pound luggage with us and we're on the third floor)! But the doors were closing and she was like tough luck! So Amy and I stand there, aggravated, waiting for the next elevator. And about 5 minutes later I turn around and see Ari climbing back up the stairs from 1st floor with all her luggage and everything and all I could do was burst out laughing! Apparently that elevator isn't particularly reliable and so it took her downstairs instead of up! Hahaha! So at that point the three of us gave up on the elevator and just walked up to our room.

There were two beds in our room and a cot in the corner. However, the cot had a gold bedspread and so I immediately claimed the gold bed despite the fact that it was just a cot in the corner. Overall our hotel in Assisi was very charming. For that matter, Assisi was very charming!

We had some time before Mass so Amy and I stopped in some of the shops along the road. We then headed up to San Rufino where we were having Mass. Mass itself was beautiful, of course, and the first reading made me really happy - seriously, if you want to laugh, read the Bible, there are some things in there that are so true yet so funny! almost like they're funny because they're true and you can't believe it actually says that in the Bible! In the first reading it said "More torturous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?" And that just made me laugh cuz it's so true and it's something I've been dealing with since forever!

At the end of Mass Fr. Brad informed us that it is tradition when you begin a pilgrimage to Assisi that you be blessed. So all us students processed up and received a blessing from one of the four Priests.

Once Mass ended we had some time to tour the Cathedral. I immediately booked it to the Baptismal Font cuz I knew it would get really crowded and I wanted to have a little time to pray there since . . . it's the Baptismal Font where St. Clare was baptized! St. Francis was also baptized there and some other important people. It was really special to be able to pray there. I even got to touch my Rosary to the Font although that proved more difficult than I thought. You see, there's a kind of fence around the Font but I saw one of the big tall rugby players lean over and touch his Rosary to the Font so I was like ok no problem. Only I didn't factor in the height difference. My feet were barely touching the floor and my Rosary was barely touching the Font. I would not have been surprised if I had fallen over the fence.

Also in the Cathedral was a side room with an exhibition of paintings of Pope John Paul II. It was really beautiful!

We then went outside and right next door to the Cathedral is the house where St. Clare grew up! There's just a little chapel that you can visit, it's only about the size of a walk-in closet, with a little altar and a sculpture of St. Clare, but it was so beautiful! So I took a few minutes to pray there and then Amy and I went exploring. Assisi is one of those places where you can do that - you can just start walking and end up in places you haven't been and you don't really know where you are but you know you'll eventually get back to where you want to be! We discovered a random little chapel, not much bigger than the chapel in St. Clare's house, but it was so cute! So we stopped to say a prayer.

Not much else happened on our excursion and we eventually made it back to the hotel in time for dinner. Dinner is a similar affair to lunch - you have your 1 to 3 helpings of pasta or rice, then your main course, usually meat and vegetables, and then a legit dessert.

That was day one in Assisi!