Beautiful Catholic pilgrimage: Assisi

I’ve been away for a couple of weeks on a beautiful Catholic pilgrimage in Assisi. It’s always been our dream to visit Rome and Assisi. Everything aligned, and Bill, Claire and I went for ten days with Fr. Cory Stanley and the good people of Prince of Peace Parish in Altus and St. Helen in Frederick, Oklahoma. Fr. Stanley lived in Rome for several years, and he was a great spiritual guide, who could also speak Italian. Fr. Joseph Schwarz was our other wonderful spiritual guide. Our main tour guide was Alessandro Pietro Gaj. He and Luciano, our fantastic, amazing bus driver, made our trip the best it could be. The tour company is 206 Tours, and they specialize in pilgrimages. I can’t say enough nice things about this company.

Our tour was customized by Fr. Stanley. We flew to Rome and then traveled for 2.5 hours to Assisi where St. Francis and St. Clare lived, walked and prayed. I thought I’d share a few photos with you of our trip. We stayed for three days in Assisi at St. Anthony’s Guesthouse. The Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement were wonderful and so helpful during our stay. The guesthouse is centrally located near the Basilica of St. Clare and inside the oldest city walls.

We had mass at the tomb of St. Francis and St. Clare, which are in separate basilicas at the ends of the town.

If I’m remembering correctly, the first day we visited the Portiuncula, a small chapel within the basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, located about a mile below Assisi in the valley. Portiuncula, which means “a small portion” of land also refers to the town built around the church. This part of Italy is full of small towns built mostly on hillsides because of historic warring factions, but the Portiuncula is in a small valley.

Inside St. Mary of the Angels. You can just barely see the Portiuncula inside.

The Roselo, or Rose Garden at St. Mary of the Angels where legend has it that St. Francis threw himself into the thorns to stop temptation. The roses supposedly quit growing thorns. It was too early for bloom, but our daily guide told us they bloom in all colors. I can attest they had no prickles on the day we visited. I don’t know the variety.

Crest of the Portiuncula in the courtyard of St. Mary of the Angles.

We weren’t allowed to take a photo of the Portiuncula from inside the church, but we were allowed to take one outside. (Click on the photos in the galleries to make them larger.) The monks and sisters are very strict in the churches of Assisi which makes sense. Otherwise, as we saw in Rome, people do foolish things in holy places. On this trip, I also didn’t lug around my good cameras. I only brought my iPhone so all the photos are taken with it. I just wanted to experience everything without having my neck ache.

The amazing thing about Assisi is how it hasn’t changed. No one felt the need to come in and tear down buildings. Instead, it feels very much like it did when St. Francis and St. Clare and their contemporaries lived there in the 13th Century. It also smelled wonderful, and the only sounds I heard most days were the bells ringing from the churches along with conversation on the streets.

I stood at the window of our room and took many photos and just breathed in the peace that surrounds this ancient city.

Except for the traffic.

Tiny cars whizzing down tiny streets don’t leave much room for pilgrims on the road. Constantly, someone in our group was shouting “Car, car!” just in time for us to flatten ourselves against a 13th Century building. You think I jest, but I do not. It was frankly a bit scary. Italian drivers are completely different from American ones. Not worse, just different. Wait until I share about Rome.

We had a wonderful time and spent a lot of our days in Assisi in the Basilica of Saint Francis and the Basilica of Saint Clare. As I wrote above, we had mass at both of their tombs. While we were in St. Francis’ Basilica, I had the strangest feeling that my former pastor, Rev. John A. Petuskey, was with us. When Bill and I were a young married couple, he always told us stories about Assisi and said he would take us with him to travel there one day. We were young and broke and had four kids. We never thought we’d ever get the chance, but he kept telling us we would. I remember also he was heartbroken when Assisi was hit by an earthquake and parts of the churches were destroyed, but he said we still had to go. When he died, I remember thinking that he wouldn’t get to share his favorite place on Earth with us. So, imagine my surprise when I was on the upper level of the basilica gazing up at the frescoes of Giotto on the life of St. Francis, I felt Fr. Petuskey with me. It was as if he were standing right next to me. Later, I mentioned this to Bill, and he said he felt exactly the same thing at the same time. Maybe God let the veil down long enough for us to have Father with us. I like to think so. He meant so much to our young family. I think Father would be so happy we finally got to Assisi at least with our youngest daughter, Claire. She was named after St. Clare, and Father Petuskey always loved that. He gave our Claire an image of St. Clare when she was baptized along with a San Damiano cross.

Claire on a busy Assisi street. Ok, it’s not busy now, but you can see why it was terrifying when cars came by. There was no need for a shoulder in earlier centuries.

Another beautiful Assisi road with container gardens.

Another great Assisi photo op. Check out the Vespas.

Bill and Claire looking too cool in their shades in front of the Basilica of St. Francis. We were getting ready to walk into mass, but had to wait for them to open.

Front doors of St. Francis Basilica in Assisi. I don’t think I was allowed to take photos inside, but I linked to some of the frescoes.

Part of our group walking down to the Basilica of St. Francis. We went on this trip with the good people of Prince of Peace Parish in Altus, OK. We are now such great friends.

St. Mary of the Angels is in the distance. I took this while standing in the courtyard of St. Francis’ Basilica.

We also ate amazing food every single day chased with caffè (espresso.) I forgot to take a single picture of my food, or my tiny cups of coffee while we were in Assisi. I did get a photo of this beautiful bowl I bought for my daughter, Megan, for her wedding present.

I bought her bowl from I Due Soli, which was on one of the three main streets in the old town of Assisi. What a wonderful shop it was! As an aside, Italians are mad for Trip Advisor and use it all the time. It was easy to track down the shop on Trip Advisor’s website. If you go there, ask for Ricardo. He speaks beautiful English and is very helpful. I think this ceramics company is in its third generation.

I hope I haven’t bored you with my pilgrimage/travelogue so far. We loved Assisi and look forward to visiting again. When I get a moment, I’ll also share about Orvieto and Rome, among other places. As for gardening, we received two inches of rain last night. The weeds are quite happy and growing.