Last night (10/3) in Rome, Milly and Fred went back to the excellent restaurant where they had eaten several days before. We had seen a man eating a steak dish that looked great. Milly and I ordered 2 different beef dishes, shared a salad and an Eggplant  parmigiana. The later was a real great dish. It was different that we expected. The beef steaks were outstnding! Great meal with great wine!

Fred met his objective if possible of visiting all of the Italy Papal Basilicas. Today’s post on Assisi will cover the 2 Papal Basilicas. Tomorrow’s post will cover the last one to be visited St Paul’s outside the walls. Prior posts covered the others:

Papal Basilicas 

The four major basilicas, together with the minor Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls were formerly known as “patriarchal basilicas”. Upon relinquishing in 2006 the title of Patriarch of the West, Pope Benedict XVI renamed these basilicas from “patriarchal basilicas” to “papal basilicas”.^[5] Those “patriarchal basilicas” were associated with the five ancient patriarchal sees of Christendom (the Pentarchy):^[6]

• St. John Lateran was associated with Rome (Patriarch of the West),
• St. Peter’s with Constantinople (Latin Patriarch of Constantinople),
• St. Paul’s with Alexandria (Latin Patriarch of Alexandria),
• St. Mary Major with Antioch (Latin Patriarch of Antioch),
• St. Lawrence with Jerusalem (Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem).

The title of “patriarchal basilica” (now, since 2006, “papal basilica”) was also officially given to two churches associated with Saint Francis of Assisi situated in or near his home town of Assisi, Italy:

• Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
• Papal Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels

Orvieto

We took a bus tour to we are now on bus headed to Orvieto and Assisi on a tour bus. Orvieto hosed the Papacy for a number of years when the City of Rome was threatened.

Orvieto sits on a high plateau. It is a quaint, quiet village with a huge Catholic heritage. We have pictures below of the tram ride that takes you up the the village on the hill. Click here to see a little movie clip on the tram ride.

While going though the wonderful Orvieto Cathedral, Fred went over to a Franciscan Monk who was hearing confessions in a roped off are. Fred asked if he could go to confession even though he says he didn’t have any serious sins other than the little ruckus that occurred in the Vatican Museum when Fred stopped some people from cutting in line. The priest didn’t understand english but gently motioned for Fred to get his blessing. He held Fred’s head with one hand and made the sign of the cross on Fred’d forehead. It was very special. Fred felt the Holy Spirit’s energy pass into him.

You were not allowed to take pictures in the Cathedral. Orvieto Pictures:

 Assisi

We left Orvieto and headed for Lake Turismo for lunch. Our tour was first treated to a reception of wine and bruschetta which was excellent! Then, we sat down for a full lunch that was wonderful. We then headed out to Assisi.

We visited the church associated with St Claire before heading for the Basilica of St Francis. The village of Assisi sits on a hill high above a tone where the Basilica of Mary and the Angels resides. We visited the later on our way out of town.

We visited where St Francis was born and raised, where he worked and where he decided to form the Franciscans.

There was a Corpus Festival in Assisi while we were there. The streets were very crowded. At the Basilica of St Francis, there was a procession going on to move relics from the lower church to the upper church. We couldn’t visit the upper church because there were too many people trying to get in and our time ran out.

The lower church was spectacular. It’s too bad we couldn’t take pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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