"Gift and Mystery": Pilgrimage to Rome

On Thursday morning we gathered at Rome’s Termini train station for the trip to Assisi, birthplace of Sts. Francis and Clare. We had purchased our tickets earlier in the week, and arrived at the station well in advance. Many of us took the extra time to get a small bite for breakfast, and we reconvened to wait for our train’s platform to be posted on the board.

(As an aside, may I mention how unbelievably charming and wonderful traditional train station notice boards are. I think that seeing and especially hearing the click-clack of such an instrument is one of the true delights of travel!)

Unfortunately, by the time the platform was posted and we all made our way toward it, the train was about to pull away from the station. Inexplicably, we encountered the first train in the history of Italy to leave four minutes early! (Seriously, there was a digital clock on the platform and it was early). Half of our group was able to run and jump on board, and the rest of us literally had the doors slammed in our faces.

Both groups proved to be perfectly resourceful, and within a few hours we were reunited in Assisi no worse for the wear, and with one heck of a story to tell. Thankfully, Fr. Michael Wurtz was with those of us in the group ‘left behind’ and he was able to organize our re-ticketing on the next train to Assisi.

We did have a to wait a bit for this second train, and so a group of us took advantage of the ‘found time’ and hustled to visit the Basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls. To my great astonishment, this is the burial place of St. Stephen, the proto-deacon and proto-martyr, and of course, my patron saint. I prayed at the site of his martyrdom in Jerusalem, but was thrilled to be able to visit his relics during this trip to Rome.

The tomb of Sts. Stephen and Lawrence, Deacons and Martyrs

It is also the burial site of Blessed Pope Pius IX who approved the Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross. I was happy to say a prayer of thanksgiving for the role this holy pontiff played in our community’s history.

The little group that made this excursion owe our discoveries to Stephen “Chase” Pepper, a Holy Cross candidate seminarian who served as our guide. Chase studied in Rome as an undergraduate at Seton Hall University and had visited this basilica before. I’ll confess that we doubted his ability to get us to the shrine and back to Termini in the allotted hour and twenty minutes – but we made it with five minutes to spare and it was well worth it!

Our train travel gave us the opportunity to see at least a small portion of Italy outside of Rome: the gritty quasi-industrial towns and rolling fields of the agro-economy that we passed through, and the medieval masterpiece that is Assisi.

Medieval Assisi

Basilica of Saint Francis

I’d always heard wonderful things about Assisi but had never visited the town before. I quickly came to understand what people like so much about it. Though the weather during our visit was poor – in fact we had about an hour of hail and snow! – the medieval hilltop town is so superbly maintained, that it is easy to appreciate that one is indeed taking-in Francis and Clare’s hometown much as they knew it.

We started our tour at the Basilica of Saint Francis where I had the privilege of presiding at Mass. It was my honor to remember in a special way all of my friends and family, and perhaps especially those who are so devoted to Francis, especially Sisters Maureen Fox and Loretta Schaff whom I had the pleasure of working with in Portland.

Chapel in the Crypt of the Basilica in which we celebrated Mass

After lunch, Fr, Jim Gallagher and I took the local bus down to the larger and more ‘modern’ section of Assisi to visit the Portiuncula, where Francis rebuilt a dilapidated chapel, given to his care by Benedictine monks, during the early days of his conversion and founding of an order. It was a simply marvelous place to sit and pray.

Back in the medieval town, Jim and I visited the Basilica of Santa Chiara, burial place of St. Clare, and the (cathedral) Duomo San Rufino where both Francis and Clare were baptized.

Basilica of Saint Clare

The Duomo Baptistry in which Francis and Clare were baptized

The rest of our gang returned to Rome that evening, but Fr. Michael, Fr. Jim and I stayed overnight in Assisi so that we could further explore the town, and enjoy a leisurely dinner in one of their favorite restaurants. Unfortunately, it rained all night and the restaurant was closed. But we still enjoyed ourselves very much, and returned to Rome the next morning in time to take full advantage of a free day in the schedule.