I want to live in Assisi

Assisi was amazing. Although I have been to it once before, I could come back many times. My time there was also a bit intense, as there was much to adjust to - getting to know the other students I will be spending every day of the next nine months with, getting used to the school's full schedule, and adjusting to being in Italy (though I am having a fairly easy time of that!).

On the 1st, we arrived to a sort of guesthouse for pilgrims which was located a short walk from the southeastern gate of the city. You could see the church of St. Clare from the front driveway. It was sunny but a little chillier than Rome. After getting situated in our very plain rooms (with fabulous views of the valley, I might add) we walked up to the basilica of St. Francis and wandered around both the upper and the lower basilica, prayed at his tomb (that was really special) and had mass together in a tiny chapel that must have been underground somewhere beneath the basilica.

Sunday the 2nd, we went to the church of San Damiano, which is a tiny ancient church where St. Francis heard God speak to him. What is fascinating is that the original convent of the Poor Clares was built onto and around this church.

Monday the 3rd it was raining so hard that we abandoned our plan to hike up to an ancient hermitage in the mountains and instead visited the gorgeous basilica of Saint Clare (a.k.a. Santa Chiara - see photo at left), where her tomb is located, as well as the original San Damiano cross. This cross is incredibly beautiful and so old - an unknown Umbrian artist painted it in the 12th century. In 1257 the Poor Clares left their convent at San Damiano for San Giorgio (where Poor Clares still reside) and took the Crucifix with them, which is why there's only a copy of it at San Damiano now. They carefully kept the Cross for 700 years. In Holy Week of 1957, it was placed on public view for the first time over the altar in San Giorgio's Chapel in the Basilica of St. Clare.

The 4th was the Feast Day of St. Francis, and we went to a special mass at the Basilica in the morning. The day was sunny and gorgeous. In the evening our group made a nice dinner at our guesthouse and decorated the dining room; we put on some hilarious skits at the end of dinner and had a really lovely evening together.

The 5th day we did make that hike; it was up to an ancient hermitage, called Eremo delle Carceri, where St. Francis and his fellow Minor Friar brothers used to escape to so they could pray. It is a steep two hour walk up, but totally worth it - I have never been to such a breathtakingly peaceful place.

Assisi is unique among cities in Italy (Italians say this too). There is an unusual peace and I'd even say a spirit of contemplation about the city that one can actually feel. It is almost as if the lives of St. Francis and St. Clare were so radically dedicated to God and full of love and holiness and peace that the very walls of the city are filled with these graces even to this day.

We're back in Rome now and getting settled into our normal daily schedule. I will upload a few of the 200 or so photos I've taken so far, as soon as I figure out how. Ciao a tutti!