This weekend Anne, Kathryn, and I signed up for the Assisi retreat through Notre Dame. It was only 25 euros so we figured we couldn’t go wrong by signing up and we were right. Even though we were the only JCU notre dame kids (everyone else was a Notre Dame architecture major), we had fun getting to know new people and I enjoyed spending some time with old friends in the architechture program.
Assisi is a beautiful medieval town on top of big hill that gives it beautiful views of the Italian countryside.
The Monday after the retreat happened to be the Feast of St. Francis so the town was beginning to buzz with excitement. Franciscans from all over the world flocked to Assisi to celebrate.
Saturday morning our train left bright and early from Termini station. By 9:30 we were in Assisi and took a bus up the hill that Assisi sits on top of.
We stayed at a retreat center called Casa Elisabetta, for St. Elizabeth of Hungary. The retreat center was a welcome change from hostels—it was so clean, the beds were made, and we got free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The meals were definitely the best part of the retreat center (not the retreat itself though, haha). We had full course sit down lunch and dinner, with a prima piatti of pasta, a secondo of meat and vegetables, and a salad and a desert and great Umbrian wine.
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| Santa Chiara |
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| San Francesco |
When we had got settled in, we were given some time to explore Assisi before the scheduled activities began so we went to a cafè called la Laterna and got great pizzas and then shopped around.
Our retreat began with a prayer and then we toured the Basilica di San Francesco. Our tour guide really made St. Francis and the basilica come alive. He explained the Frescoes by Giotto in the basilica and the specific plan and relationships between the three different levels of frescoes which depicted Genesis, the life of Christ, and the Life of Saint Francis. The Basilica is also where Saint Francis is buried so we were able to tour the crypt chapel. When St. Francis died, he was so popular that his followers were afraid his body would be taken by people who wanted relics so they buried him under enormous stone slabs. Through the years, neighboring Perugia pillaged Assisi and Napoleon took some artifacts from all over Italy and people began to wonder if the body of Saint Francis had been taken too. In the late 1800s, the tomb was opened and Saint Francis was still there. A crypt chapel was dug under the tomb into the rock of the mountain so people could get closer to Saint Francis. Our guide told us he loved Saint Francis because he was so human. For example, Saint Francis called everything brother and sister, like Sister Moon and Brother Soon. Because the body in a sense carries the soul, he called his body Brother Ass, because donkeys carry things. When he was dying, he said, “I think I may have been too hard on Brother Ass”. He also wrote to his good friend, a noble woman and told her he was dying and asked her to make his favorite almond cookie. It was also interesting to learn how influential and important Saint Claire was to Saint Francis and to the development of the Franciscan order. She was not just a follower, but a source of direction for Saint Francis. She was also supposedly tougher than he was about fasting.
Our next stop was the Basilica of Santa Chiara. The two basilicas face each other, bookending the town. Her basilica was built with beautiful bands of white and pink stone. Her crypt can also be seen so we went downstairs. Her body was thought to be incorruptible but this is not the case. Her skeleton is covered in a layer of wax to give the appearance of flesh because the caretakers were concerned a skeleton might frighten some visitors. The basilica also houses relics of Saint Francis and Saint Claire, like the robes she wore and made or the shoes she made Saint Francis and the sox he wore to cover up his stigmata and the poultice she made to ease his pain.
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| Giotto's fresco of Saint Francis renouncing his father |
That evening, we had time to meet with an American Franciscan living in Assisi. He explained the three orders of Franciscans: Observants, Conventuals, and Cappucins. Their history is long and complex but today the three orders live basically the same way. In the past the Observants were more contemplative and monastic while the Conventuals traveled and preached. Observants wear a gray habit, conventuals were a brown or black (some switched to black so they wouldn’t be persecuted by Napoleon) and capuucins have a hood but no cape. All three orders wear a cross on a rope with three knots, which represent their Rule of obedience, simplicity, an poverty.
On Sunday, we went to Mass at the Ermeo or Hermitage of Saint Francis, nestled in the mountains. Our presider was a Cardinal from Africa who was retired in Assisi. The Mass was beautiful and we were able to explore the hermitage afterwards and wander through the forest paths that Saint Francis once did.
Later that day we went to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. The actual church is the size of our apartment kitchen but a giant basilica has been built around it. The original church was where Saint Francis died and although he told his followers never to own anything, he begged them to never give up this church because he loved it so much. There were a million Franciscans and poor claires in the church getting ready to attend the vigil mass for Saint Francis’ feast day. It was neat to see their excitement.
Our retreat director, Darrell, was a really nice man and gave us all Franciscan crosses at the end of our retreat.
It was, as usual, an amazing weekend experience and it was really great that Notre Dame organized a trip because I probably wouldn’t have gone to Assisi otherwise and I would have missed out on a beautiful adventure. Below are two of Saint Francis’ most famous prayers.
Canticle of the Creatures
Most High, all-powerful, good Lord,
all praise is yours, all glory, all honor,
and all blessing.
To you, alone, Most High, do they belong.
No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.
All praise be yours, my Lord,
through all you have made,
and first my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day;
and through whom you give us light.
How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor;
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
All Praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon
and the stars; in the heavens you have made them,
bright, and precious, and fair.
All praise be yours, my Lord,
through Brothers wind and air, and fair and stormy,
all the weather's moods,
by which you cherish all that you have made.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water,
so useful, humble, precious and pure.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you brighten up the night.
How beautiful is he, how cheerful!
Full of power and strength.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through our Sister
Mother Earth, who sustains us and governs us,
and produces various fruits with colored flowers
and herbs.
All praise be yours, my Lord,
through those who grant pardon for love of you;
through those who endure sickness and trial.
Happy are those who endure in peace,
By You, Most High, they will be crowned.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death,
From whose embrace no mortal can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Happy those she finds doing your will!
The second death can do them no harm.
Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks
And serve him with great humility.
Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon:
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope
where there is darkness, light
where there is sadness, joy
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
