It had stormed the night before I was going to Assisi so I prayed for beautiful weather and my prayers were answered. I caught the morning bus from Perugia and arrived to this amazing town. I was so excited that I jumped off the bus and took off walking...in the wrong direction. When I saw a sign that said Assisi with a red line through it, I knew for sure I was going the wrong way. I stopped and asked an old Italian man for directions and he rattled off in Italian and then pinched my cheek and said Ciao Bella! I felt like a little kid as headed off in the RIGHT direction. The churches of Assisi are lovely and I visited San Rufiano and then made my way to San Chiara, St. Clare. I was immediately struck by the cross that hung in this church because it was the same one that we use in many services at my church in Austin. Then I remembered that perhaps we had ordered that cross from Assisi! I will have to verify but I was taken aback by the story and history of this cross in regard to St. Francis. This is an Iconic cross and I wish I could remember all of the details in its meaning but I will have to do some more research when I return to Austin.
The sun was shinning and the whole town overlooks vistas of mountains of green and gold. I found a spot down a random cobblestone street and sat on a wall overlooking a church tower with a garden to my right and a quaint house covered with flowers to my left and just took in the space and solitude. When I made my way to the Basillica di San Francesco, St. Francis, I was amazed. It is surrounded by lush green grass and perched on a hill. The mosaics and frescoes inside were impressive and after going into the lower church I grew tired and sat on one of the pews when I begun to hear singing. It sounded like children and apparently there was a service going on in part of the church but the acoustics allowed for the sound to travel quite far. They were beautiful, angelic voices. I made my way down to the tomb of St.Francis which transported me to medieval times, I believe he died around 1263. I was sitting and suddenly the room filled up with people and the children went up to the alter below the tomb and began singing in French. Needless to say I stayed down there for almost an hour, the energy was so powerful. Right before leaving I went and asked a priest if I could sing Ave Maria. He was telling me in Italian that the children singing was a special circumstance and that normally no one sang down here. Then he said Forse no, potrebbe. Which I thought meant Maybe not, no you cannot. Then later on I thought maybe he mean Maybe not, but I guess you can. Anyways, I suppose it was lost in translation so I wandered around the town singing to myself instead!
My last stop was a church called San Damiano which is the site where St. Francis first heard god speak to him and later St. Clare built a church there. It was a mile walk from the town and I enjoyed every second. It was a steep cobblestone path overlooking the fall colors of trees and olive groves with the mountains in the background, absolutely gorgeous. I walked slowly to take it all in. I was really drawn to this church and after touring the grounds I read a sign that said pregare con noi, pray with us, and a list of times. One time was in a half hour so I double checked with a nun and then wandered around the grounds until the service. The chapel was small and filled with people. I could feel the history here. We all sang in Italian and the monks would sing the choruses and then we did a 20 minute session of centering prayer - being in silence, followed by more singing. It was a powerful experience and one I will always cherish.
I was on a real high as I came out of the church into the black night with the end of the sunset casting the last rays of bright orange and pink. I strolled back up the cobblestone street to the bus station looking forward to putting on my Ipod for the hour bus ride back and relaxing after a beautiful day. Instead, I arrived to find I had missed the last bus because on school days that bus did not run! Luckily after sitting around for about 15 minutes feeling sorry for myself I talked with some people and took the local bus to a train station where I caught the train back to Perugia. Wow, what a day!
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