ROME: Siena

On Sunday morning we said goodbye to Assisi and drove to Siena, which was about a two hour drive. Tyler slept the whole way (thanks to his football frenzy the night before) and I dozed a little. Siena was a very different town compared to Assisi. It was beautiful in its own way.

We started off going to the Basilica where St. Catherine of Siena went when she was alive. To read about St. Catherine's life, check out http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/catsiena.htm


St. Catherine was an advisor to Pope Urban in Rome and died there. People from Siena wanted a relic so they went to Rome and actually cut off her head and her finger and brought them back to Siena. Through God's grace, St. Catherine's body is incorrupt so we got to see her head and finger (the rest of her body is buried in a church in Rome).

Then we walked to St. Catherine’s house. Here is a picture on the way to St. Catherine's house.

I really enjoyed seeing her house. Catherine's father was in the textile business and was very wealthy and they owned a large property.

The property had been renovated but parts were preserved, such as the original well that was located in the courtyard.


There were two beautiful chapels built in the house, as well as the room that St. Catherine lived for quite a few years of her life. There was a beautiful painting of a vision that St. Catherine had of Mary appearing to her and giving her baby Jesus to hold. Another painting was when Jesus appeared to her and offered her the crown of glory and of suffering, and she chose the crown of suffering.

We then walked through the center of town and saw the area where every year they have a large horse race.

We had lunch at an outdoor Italian restaurant. This was another of Tyler’s favorite adventures of our trip! It was literally two hours of sitting, drinking wine, eating wonderful food, and enjoying everyone’s company. “I could do this all day long” were Tyler’s words.

It almost felt like we did because we ate so much food! (We decided the Italians get away with eating so much food because they walk everywhere and there are so many hills in the city.) First they served bread with olive oil and Parmesan cheese. I was surprised but this was the only place on our trip that served olive oil with the bread.

Our waiter said not to eat too much bread because he was bringing us “a lot of food.” Then we were served the first course which was two spinach filled ravioli with rosemary. The second course was spaghetti...only not just any spaghetti, it was amazing. Of course the noodles were home made, but they were large noodles, about half the size of my pinky finger, and the red sauce had a bit of a kick to it. I don’t think I will be able to go back to eating “American” spaghetti.
Here are the Rossers at the table enjoying the food!

The wine kept coming, and the third course was a serving of pheasant and duck with oven fries. Very interesting and delicious, although I was so full I couldn’t eat much of it. And then he brought out a dessert wine, a little fruit dessert, and then a shot of espresso. It was quite the experience!

We then walked up hill to Mass at the Church of San Francesco, which was the site of a Eucharistic Miracle. Here is the website that describes the miracle: http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/siena.html

This was a beautiful experience. Every time we go into a Catholic church, and every time we go to Mass, we encounter Jesus Christ. But to be present in an old church and to kneel before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, knowing that the hosts were hundreds of years old and were miraculously preserved, was very powerful. Here is a picture from the above website.

The consecrated hosts were placed in a ciborium that was up above the altar and we had the privilege of being able to walk up the steps, kneel before Jesus in the ciborium, and have a private moment of prayer.I talked to people afterwards that said they also had a similar experience of a powerful prayer time there.

After Mass we walked back to the bus (we did a lot of walking that day...and every day come to think about it!) and went to our final destination: Rome! Our hotel was a few steps away from the Vatican (can you believe it?!) The two seminarians that were ordained to the deaconate helped plan our pilgrimage (they met us in Assisi and traveled to Siena with us) and since they have been studying in Rome for three years they knew all the places to go and things to see.

It was great to travel with a group and have the schedule all planned out. I'm excited to continue to share our adventures with you and there are lots of pictures and stories about our time in Rome!