Next item on our agenda was a day on Assisi. And a Sunday to boot. Bound to be on the crowded side but to the faithful it was sure to be a treat. I am not religious, per se, but I definitely feel that Assisi is a spiritual place. Harmonious. Peaceful. Filled with “presence” I certainly can't describe.
Before leaving for Assisi I gave a short talk on the life of the man most synonymous with the city. St. Francis is one of two patron saints of Italy, the other is St. Catherine of Siena. He was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant from Assisi and a frenchwoman. He was christened Giovanni by his mother in hopes that he would lead a life in the church like St. John the Baptist, but by the time he was a small boy he was called Francesco by everyone namely due his fluency in French (thanks, Mom!) He lived the life of a rich young man as most did at that time, spending the family money on foolish things and pursuits. He soon became disillusioned with money and worldly trappings, joined the military and soon after spending a year as a prisoner of war and being released, he found his ecclesiastical calling. He had visions, spent time in lonely places, made pilgrimages to holy places, and finally “married” his only bride – poverty. He nursed the poor, the lepers, the diseased and lame and restored ruined churches.
His father tried to persuade him to change his ways and come back into the fold to live the entitled life he had worked to provide for him, and after beating him severely was brought to a religious court for his actions. Francis officially and legally renounced his father and gave up all his worldly possessions, including his clothes and shoes. He wore the simplest of garments, made of the roughest fabric, and lived as a beggar.
Francis began to preach repentance and the need to live the simple life. He eventually created an order of monks, the Friars, who gave way to the Franciscan brothers we know today. He founded a network of missions and an order of nuns, the Poor Clares, as well as a lay fraternity for men and women - all dedicated to working with the poor while eschewing wealth and the finer things.He was known for his love of animals and nature and blessing them all.
He continued to make pilgrimages and went to far as to join one of the Holy Crusades in hopes of being martyred. He tried to convert the Sultan of Egypt. (Even after the fall of Christendom in the Holy Land after the Crusades, only the Franciscans were allowed to remain in Jerusalem as “custodians of the Holy Land” for Christians.) Francis the first to display a live Nativity scene, creating a creche complete with a manger filled with straw, an ox and a donkey in 1220. Francis is also the first recorded instance of a person receiving the Stigmata, the wounds of Christ spontaneously appearing after a vision during a fasting period in 1224. He bore the wounds on both hands and feet, as well as the gash in his side. The stigmata appeared repeatedly for the last two years of his life, when he finally passed away, while singing Psalm 141 in 1226.
The church fast-tracked him to sainthood and the basilica bearing his name in Assisi began construction almost immediately after his death. He is known outside of the religious world for his writings, and is considered the first Italian poet.
So with that we went to visit the city of this remarkable human being. Assisi is built into the hills on a series of terraces, adjacent to Mount Subasio. We toured the Basilica of St Francis, Santa Maria degli Angeli, Rocco Maggiore – one of two castle fortifications and traipsed about town with all the other pilgrims.
Upon our return to Le Tre Vaselli, we were treated to ta cooking demonstration by the Executive Chef and more wine tasting at dinner, courtesy of the vineyards out our windows.
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