August
14, 2000, Day 8
(at St. Francis' Monastery)
Journal entry from Mike T.
Hey everybody, We're having a blast in
Europe. For all of you guys back in the states make sure your family members show
you a ton of pictures. Don't accept the answer of we didn't see anything because
today we saw so much great stuff. Today we were able to sleep in late, 8 o'clock.
Breakfast was great we got fresh biscuits. Great, great food.
This morning we drove to the city of Saint Mary of the Angels. We had mass in the
Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels which is built around the spot where St. Francias got
the message to change his ways. It is really weird to be walking down the
middle of a church and Bam! little brick building in the way. Off to one side of the
church a second little building was surrounded when the Basilica was built. Inside
the building was the original rope that St. Francias wore as a belt. The rope had
three knots in it for obedience to God, poverty, and chastity. We were expecting an
English mass but we got a french mass with the homily and the gospel translated into
Italian. English, and Spainish. There were also many types of music from African
gospel to French slow songs. Even though I didn't understand it I was happy because
of the fact there was like thirty priests and seven+ languages represented there.
After mass we went to Assisi. The ride to Assisi was amazing with
the huge fields of sunflowers. We had to take a shuttle up to Assisi. There
were 22,000 people who went to Assisi today. You would think with all those people
we would have gotten lost but we just kept following the Arizona Flag which Sotelo had
raised up on Jeff's camera monopod. We went to the Basilica of St. Francias.
It is a weird thing because there is an upper and a lower Basilica. Underneath the
lower basilica is the tomb of St. Francias. The tomb is a hexagon 10 foot tall and
about 8 feet wide. They cut a chunk out of the wall so that you can see the caskett
of St. Francias. We were able to touch the stone in which he was buried. We
got closer to St. Francias than any other tomb so far this trip. Neither part of the
Basilica were amazing. The pictures of all the churches start to look the same after
you've seen a dozen churches. I am sorry if that sounds spoiled. The amazing
thing in Europe is that everywhere you go there is adoration going on. It is
amazing.
After seeing St. Francias' Basilica some of us went to go see St.
Clare's Basilica. The Basilica was totally under construction but when you got in
and went underground we saw the incorruptible body of St. Clare. Her hands, feet,
and face was all covered with wax though. We don't understand why if she's
incorruptible they need to protect her with wax since God has her protected already.
Then we did some fancy bus driving to get us out of Assisi. We
went to diner at the same Pizzaria as last night. Again we got some amazing food and
for the first time this vacation after four Italian style plates of food I am not going to
bed hungry. We are all having a blast in Europe and tomorrow we are breaking out a
huge American Flag to give some American pride to our group.
(This message has been edited for content. Sorry Will, Pat,
and J.P. - talk to Mike directly ;) )
Robert, Erin, Crystal, Nick, Fita, Becky, Jo Jo, Benidicte, and all the rest of you out
there we love you all and are thinking of you every time we go anywhere. Thanks a
lot for praying for us while we are away.
Mom and Dad I love you and thx for letting me come here.
Michael Topczewsk
Mike T. saying hi (488 kB)
Travel log
Today we woke up at 8am (latest yet!), ate breakfast in the hotel, and drove towards
Assisi. There we did some shopping and went to the church that St. Francis built
with his own hands. A new church had been built completely around that church.
We thought we were going to have an English Mass, but instead we had a Mass in
which seven languages were spoken and people were present from all over the world.
All of sudden we were thrown into a world where the Americans and the English language are
the minority. Outside of the church a group of singers were singing the World Youth
Day theme song (in Italian we're guessing) in this big open aisle space. When the
singing stopped, a crew of about twenty guys ran in, packed all the equipment up and moved
it into the church for Mass. At Mass there were about 24 or priests. For
something that seemed spur of the moment (us going to Mass at that exact church), it
turned out to be a huge event. Last night we met up with LIFE Teen groups from St.
Ann in Mesa, St. Thomas of Phoenix, and St. Mary of Chandler. I believe they are all
staying at the same hotel, although we have not seen them much. We have had dinner
with them last night and tonight, and lunch today together. For lunch, our bus
driver Salvatori took us to cool restaurant down the street from church. We each got
our own pizza and they were really good. After lunch we met up and had planned to
drive up to the Monastery of St. Francis but they were not letting buses through because
so many had gone up the hill, so we took the shuttle up to the Monastery. We spent a
couple hours walking around there and St. Clare's church where her incorruptible body
is. After walking around for a couple hours, we met up together again and drove to
the same dinner place as last night and had another great meal. After that we came
back to the hotel and had a little prayer session in Fr. Jim's room. We sang songs
and then said what has touched us from the pilgrimage so far. A couple then went
into the lounge and Eric played some American rock'n'roll songs for the few French people
that were there. Amazingly they knew the lyrics better than we did.
More Pictures
St. Francis Assisi's Monastery
In the streets in Assisi
Caroline giving Damien a lobotomy
Dinner: Matt M., Mike T., Damien
Dinner group
Fontebella House
On a hill by the monastery
Overlooking the countryside
The packed Assisi streets
Prayer session
Prayer session (2)
Prayer session (3)
Prayer session (4)
Prayer session (5)
Prayer session (6)
Prayer session (7)
Prayer session (8)
Prayer session (9)
Prayer session (10)
Prayer session (11)
Prayer session (12)
Prayer group shot
Prayer group shot (2)
Salvatori (bus driver) and Emmanuelle (tour guide)
Salvatori (bus driver) and Emmanuelle (tour guide) (2)
St. Clare's incorruptible body (with wax covering to protect
from light)
In the street in Assisi
At the train station
More MPEGs
View of lunch crowd (280 kB)
Quick message from Eric at lunch (792 kB)
Prayer group picture with added audio (68 kB)
Back to World Youth Day Page
|Home|Life Is...|Pictures|Calendar|Parents|Extras|Contact Us|
Last updated on Saturday, May 21, 2005
|
