Sister Dianne's Travels

This is my newsletter. I will be travelling for 40 days starting in Germany, Slovak Republic, and Austria visiting our Sisters, the Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth. Then I fly to Israel and Jordan on pilgrimage with St. Joseph's parish. From there I fly to Italy on pilgrimage with St. Luke's parish through southern Italy. My trip ends with a week in Assisi staying with the Sisters of St. Bridget. Follow me on my journey. Please pray for me and send me requests for your prayers.

[srdianne]

Gratitude

Thank you for all your prayers and for coming with me on this pilgrimage of 40 days, a truly Biblical number of days, seeing with me what the Lord had in store for me each day on the journey. Thank you to my Religious community, the Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth who granted me this privilege of an overseas pilgrimage for my 25 years of vows in Religious life. Thank you to our principal Mr. Durante who tweeted all the posts I made while on this pilgrimage so that our entire school community of St. Mary's High School could follow along. Thank you to Calgary Catholic which granted me the leave of absence so that I could make this pilgrimage during the school year. Thank you to all my fellow pilgrims, some of whom have been following these travel notes as well. Most of all, thank you to our good Lord Who in His kindness gave me a most wonderful experience of His providence throughout these 40 days. My final post includes a photo of where I started, St. Luke's church in Calgary, back home again and ready for what the Lord brings next into my life.

[srdianne]

Leaving Assisi to come home to Canada

Today Fr. Jim invited us to attend the Mass he was celebrating in the crypt of San Francesco, where St. Francis' body is buried above the altar. Nina and I joined his pilgrim group for the last Mass before I had to leave Assisi. I prayed especially there again for all of you who have been accompanying me with prayer on this pilgrimage. Then Nina and I went to Santa Chiara to pray at the crypt where St. Clare is entombed. I prayed again for all of you. Then we went back to the guesthouse, where I said farewell to the Sisters of St. Bridget. Nina came with me by the local bus to assist me onto the train to Rome. For some reason, my suitcase has gained weight despite the fact that I did little purchasing of items. Many people have given me gifts along the way. I am grateful for her help. We met again on the bus a couple of Franciscan School Sisters of Christ the King whom we had first met at San Damiano for Vespers. They came with me on the train to Rome to return to their place of work.

[srdianne]

Where I stayed in Assisi--The Sisters of St. Bridget of Sweden

These are the lovely Sisters with whom I stayed while in Assisi. Their guesthouse is immaculate, the rooms are inexpensive and the three meals a day are delicious. They gave us a bag lunch whenever we went out for the day. They have daily Mass and prayers which I could attend so I felt right at home. It was a real joy to stay with them. Many of the other pilgrims who come frequently to Assisi know that this is an excellent place to stay and come back year after year. 

[srdianne]

Assisi notes

Before I leave Assisi on Thursday, I want to show you some photos that I have not yet included in the travel notes. Here is a photo of the youth event we saw on Sunday at San Francesco. Also is a photo of Brother Martin who we met at the basilica, Nina at the guesthouse where we were staying, and Sr. Sue, a Canadian Franciscan Sister of Atonement, who invited us for tea at St. Anthony's guesthouse. 

[srdianne]

La Verna

Nina and I were invited to come to La Verna with the pilgrim group that are staying with us at the Sisters of St. Bridget guesthouse. The priest, Fr. Jim from Boston, booked a bus for the group and there was room for us, free of charge. What a wonderful gift! I am really impressed with this group of pilgrims. They belong to a group called the Assisi Project where they meet once a month to pray together and read about St. Francis and St. Clare, then discuss how the reading impacts their lives. They have included a few Canadians they know into the group for this pilgrimage. Fr. Jim and his co-worker Cliff have been to Assisi more than 10 times. 

So we drove by bus to La Verna, the place on top of a mountain one and one-half hours by bus from Assisi. This was the place where St. Francis received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, while he was praying on September 17th, three days after the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. He had asked of Jesus to know the love Jesus had for us when He died on the cross for us and to know the suffering that Jesus had endured for our sake. St. Francis was granted his request. He had a vision of a six-winged angel (a seraph) coming to him from heaven, and when the angel came close, St. Francis saw that it bore the image of a crucified man. Then the marks of Jesus' crucifixion appeared in St. Francis' flesh. His hands and feet had holes form with what looked like nails in them and a hole opened in his side. These used to bleed and had to be bound up. He could no longer walk and had to ride a donkey for the next two years of his life until he died. He tried to keep the wounds hidden from others' eyes, but they were witnessed by his closest companions and St. Clare who used to put poultices on the chest wound to ease the pain. She also made him shoes to wear to cushion his feet. 

This place had a strong impact on me. I have always been touched by St. Francis' desire to be conformed to Jesus as completely as possible and I admire his courage to ask for such a difficult gift. 

While we were there, Fr. Jim celebrated Mass for us in the chapel that had been built over the spot where St. Francis had received the stigmata, and we also participated in the Friars' prayers and procession honouring St. Francis. The photos are of the cave where St. Francis lived while at La Verna, the spot in the chapel where the stone is preserved under glass where he had received the stigmata and the monastery built onto the mountain at the site. The place of his bed in the cave is covered with an iron grate because people were taking chunks away as relics. The place outside the cave was green and beautiful.The area outside the monastery has been made into a national park which we walked through to get to the monastery. 

[srdianne]

Rivo Torto

St. Francis and his first Brothers (Friars) lived in the valley below Assisi, in a small building used to house cattle, and later other Friars made a permanent structure of stone. This has been preserved inside a church in the town called Rivo Torto, named for the crooked river which still flows nearby.

I wanted to see this church and so walked the 4 km down from San Damiano. We had had rain in the morning but the afternoon was beautiful and when I arrived there were a few pilgrims there. I prayed for everyone who has asked for prayers and then prepared to take the bus up the hill to San Damiano. A kind gentleman at the church offered to drive me up the hill so I arrived early and had much time for prayer before the Vespers. It has been for me a deeply moving experience praying at all these sites associated with St. Francis and St. Clare. When I was in the chapel at San Damiano, it came to me that this was the place where it all began and tomorrow I would be going to La Verna, where the culmination of St. Francis' life would occur when he received the stigmata from Christ. I am very grateful for this time of pilgrimage. Once while on this pilgrimage, someone asked me to explain what a pilgrimage is. I said that it is as much an inner journey as it is an outer journey. While I am visiting the holy sites, I am growing closer to the Lord Jesus and His Church. I am learning to trust Him more and to be more aware of His actions in my life. It has truly been a blessed experience. 

[srdianne]

The Carceri--the hermitage of St. Francis on Mt. Subasio

Yesterday Nina and I decided to make a true pilgrimage walk up the side of Mount Subasio to the Carceri, a series of caves where St. Francis and his brothers used to go to be alone to pray. The switchback road led from an upper gate in the wall of Assisi into the countryside where people were picking olives. As we puffed our way up the steep climb, the wind got stronger until, one and a half hours later at the top, it was quite cold and blustery. Fall has definitely come to Assisi. There were no other pilgrims at the site since the high season for visitors ended this last weekend.

A monastery has been built on the side of the mountain and Religious Sisters live there.  We squeezed ourselves through the small stone openings in the ancient part of the building to see the place where St. Francis prayed and I prayed especially for all Religious Sisters and Brothers at St. Francis' own cave. As usual, we were not permitted to take photos inside the site. Outside we found a bronze statue made to represent St. Francis lying on the ground looking up at the stars.  

[srdianne]

Meeting other pilgrims

I have met some very interesting people here in Assisi. First there is Nina, the fellow pilgrim who is staying here at the guesthouse of the Sisters of St. Bridget. We have been visiting the holy sites together and I have been filling her ears with the stories of St. Francis and St. Clare as we visit various places. 

Our favourite place has been San Damiano, where we experienced the wonderful Vespers I mentioned in my last post. We want to go back there again before I leave on Thursday. 

We met a young Franciscan friar, Brother Martin, who comes from Austria, near Vienna where Nina lives. He took us today into the area behind the basilica of San Francesco (St. Francis) where the friars have a large open area where they can have Mass outside. On Tuesday he will give us a tour of the basilica, which Nina has not yet seen with a guide. 

We also met a Franciscan friar from Munich, Germany, Fr. Herrmann Joseph, who kindly included us in his group today on a walking tour through Assisi. We saw places related to the life of St. Francis, ones that my pilgrimage group had not been shown. It was very interesting and brought me closer to St. Francis again. We saw the place where the first follower of St. Francis had lived, the place where St. Francis stayed shortly before he died, the place where St. Francis had lived with his parents and his father had imprisoned him to stop him from following Jesus in such a radical way. 

Everyday something unexpected occurs and I am happily aware that the Lord is taking care of me on this pilgrimage. Unlooked-for opportunities come our way and Nina and I have seen places we did not know existed and met interesting people. We were invited to visit the Atonement Sisters in their convent. We thought that there would be an English Mass at the basilica of San Francesco today, but it was cancelled due to a large group of Italian youth who had gathered there from all over Italy. Providentially we met Fr. Herrmann there and he took us with him to the little church built into the wall of the city where St. Francis had been blessed with his fellow knights before they went off to battle. It was in the convent of another community of Franciscan Sisters.

Thank you for your prayers for me. I continue to pray for you. The photos are of San Francesco taken from the plain below the city, the little church where we had Mass, and Nina with Fr. Herrmann on the wall of the city just outside the little church. 

[srdianne]

San Damiano

I am enjoying visiting various sites around the town of Assisi with one of the other pilgrims from the Sisters of St. Bridget guesthouse where we are staying. Yesterday we decided to walk down the slope of Mount Subasio upon which Assisi is built to the little church that St. Francis rebuilt with his own hands. This church also has a monastery attached to it where St. Clare lived with her Religious Sisters. Now the Franciscan Friars live here and have their formation community there. So we saw a number of novice friars there. They can be distinguished from the friars with vows by the fact that there are no knots on their cords around their waists. The knots represent the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

We were really happy to attend the sung Vespers, the evening prayer of the Church, while we were there. One friar played the organ and had singing practise with us before the Vespers. So we were singing in Italian. It was really crowded with people sitting on the stone steps as well as in the wooden benches. We got the last seats on the benches and we came to the chapel half an hour before the Vespers. I was really happy to be there praising the Lord at the end of the day with so many other people, many of whom were young adults. Afterwards we had the long way home to walk uphill in the dark, but there were a lot of people going the same way and we found an escalator that took us part of the way. As in many churches here, we were not allowed to take photos so I can only show you the courtyard of the monastery. 

[srdianne]

Assisi at last

I have arrived in Assisi, the final destination of my pilgrimage. The St. Luke's pilgrimage group was given a quick tour of some of the sites before they left for Rome and home to North America. I moved into the guesthouse of the Sisters of St. Bridget where I will be staying for one week before I also return to Calgary. 

The first day I spent at Santa Chiara, the church honouring St. Clare of Assisi, the first woman to follow St. Francis. Her relics and some of the relics of St. Francis are displayed here, with English explanations which I appreciate. 

The side chapel dedicated to St. Agnes of Assisi, the sister of St. Clare, who followed her into Religious life, was a nice place to pray away from the constant stream of pilgrims coming to see the crucifix through which Jesus spoke to St. Francis, asking him to rebuild His house that was falling into ruin. This crucifix was originally in San Damiano, the little church St. Francis rebuilt with his own hands and where St. Clare lived with her community of Sisters outside the walls of Assisi. 

I joined the Poor Clare Sisters for Vespers, the evening prayer of the Church, along with other people the first night I was here. It was beautifully sung in Italian. I used my own English version of the prayers as I do not know Italian. 

Photos are not allowed inside the church of Santa Chiara, but I have some photos of the outside and the sights through Assisi as I walk uphill from where I am staying as I go to Santa Chiara. I continue to pray for you every day on this pilgrimage. Please keep me in your prayers. 

[srdianne]

Last look at Florence

I also took a photo of the Arno River from the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge). On this bridge are shops of gold merchants. If I had not walked past the bridge at first, I would not have realized that it was a bridge; it looked like another street of shops. 

Another interesting spot was a workshop where copies of statues and other marble items are made to replace ones that are damaged. This was a surprise to me because I thought everything was original, but it makes sense when a place is so old that items need to be replaced. 

[srdianne]

Santa Cruce in Florence

Here is the photo of Santa Cruce (Holy Cross), the Franciscan church in Florence. Its facade is all of marble and inside are apparently monuments to great people of Florence. I did not go inside as it is functioning as a museum and it has a cost to enter it. I preferred the little church with the painted ceiling where we had Mass and also time for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. 

[srdianne]

More on Florence

I can see from the entry I made yesterday, only two of the photos attached to the entry. The ones that came were of me with the statue of Jesus from the baptistry and of the Duomo, the building next to the baptistry. I will try to put up the other photos now with a few separate posts. Here is the photo of the baptistry from the outside. We did not get inside because Mass was being celebrated at the time we were there. 

I will also upload the photo overlooking the city. The Duomo, the largest building in the city, is visible beyond my shoulder. The people of Florence passed a law that no building may be higher than the Duomo so the presence of Christ in His Church is always the main focus in the life of the city. 

[srdianne]

Here I am in Florence (Firenze), the city of flowers. The first photo is of the statue of Jesus taken from the baptistry, a large octagonal building in the central piazza of the city. The second photo is of the baptistry. The building was built large because people who were not baptized did not come into the church building until they were baptized and this was done only once a year at Easter vigil. 

The next two photos are of the Duomo, the cathedral of Florence. It is called duomo as a contraction of two words meaning the home of the Lord (domus Domini). This is an amazingly large building. I could not get it all into the camera lens. Beside it is a large bell tower, also very large. The painted ceiling is on the dome inside. This dome was an architectural wonder of its time because it is self-supporting, not built with scaffolding. 

The next photo is of Santa Cruce, the holy cross church of the Franciscans. We did not get to see any Franciscans, regretfully. The painted ceiling of the next church was where we had Mass, a very peaceful place that had an invitation outside it to come and pray. There was Eucharistic adoration after the Mass and we stopped by again before we left to pray again. 

The final photos are of the city along the Arno River and from a lookout point. You can see the large red dome of the Duoma behind me. All this was on Tuesday. I could not upload any photos yesterday because the wifi was not working at the hotel. 

Now I am in Assisi and after a tour of the town, the rest of the pilgrimage group from St. Luke's parish left on the bus to Rome. I am now at the St. Brigid Sisters' guesthouse. The wifi works well here. 

[srdianne]

Lanciano and Loretto

Today we travelled to Assisi and on the way we stopped at two shrines on the way. The first was at Lanciano, where in the 8th century there was a priest who doubted that the bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood of Jesus when he said the words of consecration. One day he was saying Mass when the bread turned into human flesh. This is on display in a monstrance in the church in Lanciano, Italy. We stopped in to pray there and our priests offered the Mass in the chapel where this miracle took place. 

Then we went to Loretto, where the house of Mary is. It was removed from Nazareth in the 1200's when the Turks were invading the Holy Land and destroying the Christian holy sites. The stones from this house in Loretto match the foundation stones left in Nazareth. If you recall, our pilgrimage group visited that place in Nazareth. I prayed for you at this site as well. 

Tomorrow we go to Florence for a day trip and then return to Assisi. I cannot upload photos here because the wifi is problematic. On Wednesday, the rest of the group leave for Canada and I will be staying on in Assisi for another week. Please continue to keep me in your prayers. I will be staying with the Sisters of St. Bridget. I hope that they have wifi. 

[srdianne]

Mount St. Michael and San Giovanni Rotondo

These two sites are associated with St. Pio of Pietrelcina, the Franciscan priest who had the wounds of Jesus on his hands, feet and side. Last night we attended a candlelight vigil on the hill by the church. We prayed the rosary and listened to Scripture reading and a talk by the bishop of the area. It was a very beautiful sight with everyone carrying long candles in the dark. We spent the morning at the shrine of St. Michael the Archangel which was started in a cave and later was built up with a large church.

In the afternoon we were at the church where Padre Pio had celebrated Mass and served the people who came to him for confession and help. He had a hospital built there to care for the sick people who came to him and so many people wrote letters asking for advice that many of his religious brothers used to help him with the mail. One of the three brothers still alive who lived with him gave us a talk about Padre Pio and we all had a relic from him placed on our head while the priest prayed for us. I was very impressed with the experience. 

The photo is of the three priests of our group and the old brother who told us about Padre Pio. The tall priest with white hair is Fr. David, the parish priest of St. Luke's church in Calgary. The other younger priests are Americans who have joined our group. I have also included a photo of the prayer vigil even though it was hard to take pictures in low light. We were not allowed to take photos in the grottos so I cannot show those to you. 

Tomorrow we go to Assisi, the final stop of my pilgrimage. We will be taking a side trip to Florence the next day, and then the pilgrimage group will be leaving me in Assisi for the next week as they travel back to Canada. 

[srdianne]

Abbey of the Most Holy Trinity in Cava de Tirreni

I woke early this morning and at 5:30 a.m. the bells of the Benedictine monastery nearby rang to wake the monks. We walked down the mountain to attend morning Mass with 6 priests, three from our group of pilgrims and three from another group. After Mass we had a tour of the monastery. It started as a cave dwelling for a single monk and over the centuries a monastery was built. Pope Urban II launched a crusade against the invading Turks in the 11th century from this monastery. The present church and monastery are built on top of the medieval one, which is now only a place for visiting as an historic site. I cannot show you the sights we saw on the tour because we were not allowed to take any photos. I have included some photos from our walk down and inside the church.