We started the day in Assisi bright and early! We enjoyed a delicious breakfast of muesli cereal and yogurt, croissants and buns, and some sort of prosciutto and cheese. Of course we had our coffee and tried the mango juice.
Then we made our way down to the other end of Assisi and saw a breathtaking view of the Basilica of St. Francis.
The history behind this Basilica is unbelievable. It was started two years after St. Francis died (since he was made a saint immediately) and was completed in 25 years (which is record time even for our standards today if we tried to build a church like that). The Basilica was started in 1228. There is a Lower and an Upper church and underneath the Lower Basilica there is the crypt of St. Francis where he is buried. I got this picture off the Internet since cameras weren't allowed in the Basilica.
It is a beautiful chapel and his tomb is surrounded by stone. Around the sides of the chapel are the tombs of his closest companions. It was a very prayerful and holy place. In the Lower Basilica there are a few side chapels and the main apse, which is where St. Francis was originally buried and about 75 years ago they transferred him to the crypt so pilgrims could have a place to pray and venerate him.
We started with Mass in one of the side chapels and then gathered outside where a tour guide took us through the Basilica and told us about the history and the art. Here we are about to go into the Lower Basilica for the tour. Here's the group before we went on the tour.
It was very informative and really helpful to have a personal tour guide or else we never would have learned so much. Things that stood out to me were how they built the lower basilica to have a prayerful quiet place and the upper basilica for celebrations. The Basilica is built into a wall of rock so is supported by many arches and beams. This was one of my favorite Basilicas because the art was amazing. There are lots of frescoes that tell the story of St. Francis’s life and other beautiful stories. Here is a picture of the Upper Basilica (also from the Internet)
St. Clare worked closely with St. Francis and was much younger than he was, so she was still alive when the Basilica of St. Francis was finished. A fun story we learned about her was she was too sick to go to the inauguration Mass of the Basilica of St. Francis on Christmas Eve so she stayed in her room. However, she saw a heavenly vision of the Mass as it was happening and described to the sisters at her convent what she was seeing. Afterwards the sisters who had gone to the Mass came back and started to tell her all about it, but she stopped them and told them she had already seen it. She is therefore known as the Patron Saint of Television because she saw the first “live broadcast.”
Our tour guide then lead us from the Basilica of St. Francis, which is on one end of town, all the way through the town to the city gate, which in St. Francis’s time used to be the start of the town. Amazing that St. Francis and St. Clare walked through the same gate we did.
Then we went to the Basilica of St. Clare, which is on the opposite side of the town.
In this Basilica we were able to see the crucifix that as tradition says talked to St. Francis when he was praying in front of it. This is a picture of a replica of the crucifix that was in our hotel.
The story goes that Francis' father was in the textile business and was very wealthy so Francis was thought to follow in his father's steps. He was living a worldly life but then had a huge conversion and he was praying in front of the crucifix and heard Jesus tell him to rebuild His Church. So Francis went out and physically rebuilt a few churches in the area. Finally he realized Jesus was telling him to rebuild the people which makes up His Church. So he gave away everything he had and started to commit his life to Christ.
We really enjoyed walking through the streets of Assisi.
We went to the house that St. Francis grew up in and saw the door leading into what used to be his house, as well as what used to be his father’s textile shop and his grandparent’s house. There is now a church built there.
Here's the chapel that is where his house used to be.
Here are some links if you want to read more about St. Francis and St. Clare
http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/francis.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04004a.htm
We were able to have a little bit of rest before we went on a cappuccino date. We went to a café where we sat outside and watched all the pilgrims walk around. There were so many groups and we liked to guess which ones were “Americano” while we enjoyed our cappuccino.
Our cappuccino date was right next to what used to be the main part of the town. The street we walked on was recently (in the last 1000 years) built because even before Francis and Clare's time, when Assisi was a Roman city, the ground was about 10 feet lower. There was a very old building, more than 2000 years old, that used to be a pagan temple (and is now a Catholic church! That is one of the awesome things we encountered on our trip. Lots of places used to be pagan temples and are now Catholic churches.) It was later used as a jail before being made into a church. We all took turns touching the original columns and are pretty sure that is one of the oldest things we have ever touched. If we had more time, we would have been able to go under the street and walk on the original road built in Roman times.
Then we walked down to where the bus was parked, near the entrance to the city, and met the group to go to the Basilica of Mary Queen of the Angels, which was down in the farmland area of Assisi.
This is the Basilica they built around where St. Francis died.
There was a large area in front of the Basilica and some kids were kicking a soccer ball around. My husband was drawn to them and went over and tried to talk to them and play. It was a cute moment but the kids didn’t understand him and then had to go, so no soccer.
Before we went back to our hotel for dinner, we stopped at a pottery store where we got a tour of their factory and then got to taste sausage, cheese, strawberry wine, chocolates, olive oils and sauces. Needless to say, this was one of Tyler’s favorite parts of the trip!
Another highlight for my husband happened that evening. Before we left for the trip he prepared himself to be away from college football. Since it was Saturday, all day he kept thinking about the games he would miss. We didn’t know if we would have Internet, but Tyler found a way to get on and found games online.
Because of the time difference, he started watching football at 10 pm and the game he really wanted to watch, Notre Dame vs. Purdue, started at 2am. What a devoted fan he was! There was a family on our trip who were also huge Notre Dame fans so he went and watched the game with them, letting me get some sleep.
We have to come back because we saved some things to do next time: visit ancient ruins underneath town square, go to Church of San Damiano (the first church St. Francis rebuilt and was later used by St. Clare and her sisters) the Cathedral where both saints were baptized, as well as go to the castle above the city. One of Tyler’s dreams is to go on a culinary tour in Assisi and our perfect vacation would be to come here, go to Mass, and spend the rest of the day eating at different restaurants and praying at all the chapels! I do hope we can come back someday!
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