This past Thursday, one of my tutors decided to offer an alternative to the regular morning class -- a trip to Lago d'Orta, a lake about a half-hour from where we were staying at Verbania. Since it was a replacement for the tutoring session, we would be speaking in Italian for the trip. She extended the offer to any of the other seminarians who were interested. In all, eight of us went.
Our main sites to see were the island in the middle of the lake, where there is the Church of San Giulio and a Benedictine monastery, and the Sacro Monte, a series of small chapels run by the Franciscans. More on those in a bit.
We had to walk down into one of the towns on the lakeshore in order to catch a ferry to the island. This is a view of the island from the town.
Also, I've noticed in quite a few of these towns, there is art many public buildings other than churches. In the town marketplace, there are frescos on the building, as well as a modern sculpture (metal hats on a disc) next to it.
On the island is the Church of San Giulio. As is fairly common here, the relics of San Giulio are on display in a small chapel under the main sanctuary (you can see the tip of the doorframe for the stairway in the lower right corner of the the first picture). The church contained multiple frescoes, including the one shown of St. Christopher. The Ambo in the final picture is from the 12th Century, and is one of the few Ambos from that era in existence.
After we rode back to the town, we went to the Sacro Monte. This is one of about eight scattered throughout the Alps in Italy and Switzerland. They served as small pilgrimage sites to counter the effects of the Protestant Reformation. This Sacro Monte was quite visible from the island. The other seminarian in the picture with Dan is Scott, one of our classmates from the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin.
This particular Sacro Monte is dedicated to the life of St. Francis. There are twenty small chapels that depict different scenes from his life, death, and canonization. Each of these scenes is portrayed using a combination of frescoes and life-sized statues. The scene shown is St. Francis speaking with the Sultan of Egypt. The Pieta that is above the High Altar in the main Church is about a thousand years old.
The final picture that I will leave you with is the magnificent view of the island that I was greeted with upon leaving the main Church, after the sun had come out again. Ciao until next time.
Happy Diocesan Feast Day to everyone!
I hope that all is well for everyone in the Diocese. Today has been a relaxed day, taking some time for rest, prayer, blogging, and a leisurely afternoon walk. One of the priests from the NAC is here visiting, and so he will be saying Mass later for the group of us here... Although my Italian is getting better, it's not quite to the point where I can always follow Mass in Italian, so his being here is a pleasure twice over.
Here in Italy, the national holiday of Ferragosto corresponds with the Feast of the Assumption, so had it fallen during the week, it would be a day off for everyone. Since it's on a weekend, it doesn't affect classes, but it did lead to an excellent meal at Pranzo.
I cannot ask enough, especially today, to continue to pray to Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Assumption for vocations, present and future, in the Diocese.
An exercise that one of my Italian tutors prefers to use is to have the student write a paragraph, and then go over and correct it during the next day's session. For this weekend, my tutor asked me to write about 15 lines about St. Pacomius, because she had come across his name but had no idea who he is. I thought it might be appropriate and beneficial to share.
First, San Pacomio in Italiano (full disclosure: I never said it was good Italian):
San Pacomio, monaco e un fondatore del monachesimo occidentale, è nato in 292 a Tebe, Eggito. I suoi parenti sono stati pagani,e lo non ha avuto una esperienza del cristianesimo fino al suo 20 (ventiesimo) anno quando l'escercito romano lo ha arruolato e incarcerato. I christiani lo portavano un cibo e un'acqua. Quando San Pacomio ho liberato, lui ho convertito al cristianesimo e battezzato. Lui ho diventato un eremita e un studente di Palaemon da 7 anni.
Dopo il periodo con Palaemon, San Pacomio è andato nel deserto d'egiziano. Lui lì è vitato fino a sentito una voce che lo ha ordinato costruire una casa per qualche altri ermiti vivare. San Pacomio ha fondato il suo primo monastero circa 320. I altri monachesimi si chiama “abba,” che voler diciamo “padre.”
San Pacomio ha fondato 9 monasteri in tutto. Il suo esempio ha ispirato qualche altri fondare i altri monasteri e scrivere regole monastice per iscritto. I monasteri si ho ingrandato in Eggito, del nord d'Africa, Palestina, e del ovest d'Europa.
San Pacomio predicava fortemente contro i Ariani. A causo di questo, Sant'Athanasio ho voluto ordinare San Pacomio nel sacerdozio in 333, ma lo ha refutato.
San Pacomio si è ammalato, ho scelto il suo successore, ed è morto in 348. Catholici, ortodossi, copti, e lutherani lo venerano e lo mettono nel suoi calendari liturgici.
Have a blessed week.
Several seminarians including Dan and I celebrated the feast at the Basilica Santuario della Consolata in Turin (Torino to the Italians). We chose to go there because we were already in the area and we have weekends off from our classes. We'll bring you more about Turin over the next few days.
We travelled through Vercelli on the train ride to and from Turin.
St. Eusebius lived in a time immediately after the legalization of Christianity, right at the time when the rising heresy of Arianism questioned the divinity of Jesus. The First Council of Nicaea in 325 settled the question and asserted that Jesus was consubstantial with God the Father(of the same substance -- in the Nicaean Creed we recite at Mass, we say "of one Being"). In spite of this, the Arian faction continued to gain power, and threatened to overtake true Christianity.
By the time Eusebius had been chosen to be a bishop, this dispute was widespread, and he was drawn into it. He and two other bishops were exiled in 355 by the Arian bishops after refusing to condemn St. Athanasius, the chief opponent of the Arians. For the remainder of his life until his martyrdom in 371, St. Eusebius spent his time in exile, and then in travels throughout the Christian world to preach against the errors of Arianism.
This translates to our own time. St. Eusebius continued to proclaim the truths of the Catholic Faith even when threatened with death. How willing are we to learn about the teachings of the Faith, and how willing are we to stand up for the Church and her teachings in the face of opposition?
A more detailed story of the life of St. Eusebius can be found at Catholic Online.
