The weekend of Oct. 5 was jam packed full of beautiful experiences. We left early Friday morning to go to Assisi. While we were there we visited the tomb of St. Francis in the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi. The basilica is beautiful, full of colorful paintings. It was the first church to ever be built in honor of a saint that lived at the same time as the people who built it. Right after St. Francis died, people who knew him began building that church in his honor - how awesome! After that we did some more exploring around Assisi until we made our way to the Church of San Damiano where the crucifix spoke to St. Francis. It was a cloister for the Poor Clares and it is such a beautiful place. After that we made our way down to lower Assisi to visit Santa Maria degli Angeli, also incredibly beautiful! The church that was there when St. Francis was alive is still preserved inside of the church that is there today. It was so awesome to get to pray in the same place that St. Francis did years and years ago. On Saturday we spent the day in Norcia, where St. Benedict was born. It is a very small town but very beautiful. We all sang the fight song in front of the statue of St. Benedict in the town's main square. On our way back to Perugia we stopped in the hills of the Apennine Mountains - It was SO beautiful! I really felt like we were in the Sound of Music. We frolicked around singing "The hills are alive..."! It was great! We made one more stop in a town called Visso and then went back to Perugia. Sunday morning we stayed in Perugia and just did a little bit of touring and went to Mass. They told us that the priest that said Mass is one of the best homilists in the region and people come from all over to hear him preach. Although I am learning Italian, I don't know anywhere near enough to understand a homily - So I'm just going to go ahead and take their word for it. The Mass was beautiful, though! Touring through Perugia was great and it was a nice end to the weekend. We made it back to the villa on Sunday afternoon and recharged for the week to come.
Outside the Basilica of St. Francis.
Lovely Assisi.
Basilica of St. Francis.
San Francesco.
A friar outside of San Damiano Church. I thought this was a precious picture so I was totally creepin' and I took it :)
Place where St. Clare died.
The cloister at San Damiano.
I felt bad for creepin' so I went up after and asked him if he would take a picture with me. He was so sweet.
Beautiful.
St. Pius X popped up again!
Early morning in Umbria!
Lovely Norcia.
I had never seen a purple rose before!
This chocolate must be great - The "bestest" chocolate of the world!
Basilica of St. Benedict in Norcia.
So beautiful! This was our stop near the Apennines!
Ok seriously, St. Pius was stalking me this weekend. We got off the bus and I saw this black and yellow pole and I thought it was SPX-ish and then these two sticks were just sitting on the ground like this! It was great!
Go Sartans! St. Pius X - Pray for us!
One of the most beautiful sights I have ever been blessed to see.
"The hills are alive!"
It was such a great day :)
Beautiful church in Visso.
It was a stormy day in Perugia.
Beautiful view.
Perugia.
With Emily overlooking Perugia.
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