Celebrating the Saints Italian Style

The past week has been filled with a lot of activity. The city of Assisi has three patron saints who lived and died here in Assisi. The first is Saint Ruffino who was an early Bishop of the city and won the martyrs crown. The second is Saint Francis who lived a life devoted to God, and in the process helped to renew the Catholic world with his message of peace and simplicity. The third is Saint Clare who was a contemporary of Saint Francis. She devoted herself to a life of prayer, and began the Franciscan Order for women.

This week is special to Assisi because on August 11 is the Feastday of Santa Chiara, August 12 is the Feast Day of San Ruffino, and August 15 is the Feastday of the Assumption of Mary. The town of Assisi proved that it knows how to celebrate it's saints. Monday started with a mass in a crypt that holds the body of Santa Chiara. In the evening, there was a procession that began at San Ruffino, moved to the Church of Santa Chiara, then to the Church of Maria Sopra Minerva, and then back to San Rufino. The procession consisted of a cross leading the religous, then the priests, followed by the Bishop. Behing the Bishop was an effigy of San Ruffino, which was then followed by all the towns people. What made the night extremely special was that they lit up all of the roads and castles in Assisi with candles. It made for a beautiful night. After the procession, there was dessert put out for all of the participants. It was there that I first truly experienced the Italian understanding of lines. To put it simply, there is no line. Those who are willing to push and prod the most make it to the cake, while others are left to fend for themselves. Some of the old Italian women were especially vicious.

The next day had beautiful masses for San Ruffino, and the day culminated in an amazing firewors show over the Castle of Rocca Maggiore. A few of the seminarians stay at a house further up the hill which has a patio overlooking Rocca Maggiore. We decided to through a party, and spent the night on the patio celebrating and watching the fireworks.

The weeks festivities culminated on Thursday night with a Vigil for the Marian Feast down at Santa Maria degli Angeli [Saint Mary of the Angels]. The night starts with a bonfire outside of the Church. In the wood of the bonfire were placed over 20,000 prayer intentions left at the Cathedral by pilgrims over the year. The bonfire started with a prayer service offering our prayers to God. After a lot of singing and prayer, there was a procession with candles through the church. Once we were in the church, there was beautiful singing and prayers for the Feastday. We ended the night going for gelatto [Italian ice cream] with some sisters from America who have been living and working in Assisi for the past 25 years.

The Feastday of the Assumption is also a federal holiday in Italy, so we had Friday off for travel. I did a lot of traveling over the past few days, and had a great time. Those stories will follow when I have time. Interestingly enough, the week was also filled with many other personal celebrations. I had one friend take vowswith the Sisters of Life on the 12th, and another friend take vows with the Franciscan Sisters that we had gelato with on the 15th. To top it off, my mother's birthday is today on the 17th. All in all, it was a week filled with celebrations.