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March 1, 2007

Day 15

Day 15 of our Pilgrimage was January 11, 2007. We did not have Mass this morning because a singular honor and blessing awaited me (and us) that afternoon. Morning Prayer was done in private and I was still rejoicing in the Breviary that now had the proper antiphons and readings now that we had reached Ordinary Time. After breakfast we headed over to San Clemente, a Dominican Church that delighted Sr. Mary Mark. The visit to the various crypts was a delight and added to the great number of Saints with whom we crossed paths on this journey.

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There was a still lot of time before we had to be at Santa Croce for Mass so I decided that we should also visit the tomb of St. Maria De Mattias.
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The Sister there in the Church was very hospitable in her limited English and was delighted when I identified myself as a Missionary of the Precious Blood. She asked if I would like to speak to a Sister in English and we gladly agreed. There was an American Sister there and this sister went to find her. When St. Therese came out it was a delightful meeting. I was standing there wondering where I had met her before and she was chatting with us wondering where she had seen us before. It turns out they had stayed at the same Brigittine guesthouse in Assisi where we had stayed. We had dinner only one night at the Brigittine house but two ASC sister had been there at the same time. It is too bad I did not catch sight of the Heart and Cross that is the distinctive pendant that the sisters wear.
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After the very Generous hospitality of Sr. Therese, we caught a taxi over to Santa Croce.
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Here we were welcomed by my good friend Don Marco Kirby who also has a blog. He ushered us into the Chapter room while he went in search of the Cistercian Graduals that we would use for Mass. As is often the case in large community’s someone else was using them as they were nowhere to be found. We were introduced to Br. Ryan who prepared some delightful copies of the chants for the Mass.
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Then Don Marco led us into the huge refectory where the monks gathered for the midday meal. After the prayer, we slid into the seats and there I found myself right next to the Abbot. There was a brief reading, but then the Abbot rang the bell and the monks joined us in conversation. The Abbot’s English was ok. Sometimes I switched to Spanish which he found more understandable. After lunch we retired to the end of the refectory where the Abbot served us coffee. The hospitality was wonderful as they continue the ancient Benedictine custom a greeting each guest as Christ.

Don Marco gave us a wonderful tour of the Library, which included a look at some of the very old chant books and Sacramentaries that are kept there.

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Then we went to the Chapel to prepare for Mass. Don Marco chose for us the Votive Mass of the Passion of the Lord, a Votive Mass found in the Cistercian Gradual. As this was a place where Gaspar had made retreat on many occasions, and a place where his uncle was once Abbot, and where he had preached retreats for the monks on ten separate Lents, it was an honor and a privilege to celebrate Mass, chanted entirely in Latin, in a place and in the same manner as St. Gaspar once prayed and celebrated Mass. I think, for me, this was the high point of the whole journey.
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After Mass Don Marco gave us a guided tour of his Icon of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus. He also gave each of us a small copy of the Icon.
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Later we took another taxi. This time we traveled to the Generalate of the CPPS community. Fr. General was not at home, but Jerry Stack, General Secretary, gave a us a little tour and then fed us a marvelous dinner. The Archives had changed since I last saw them. Everything was now if Plastic boxes behind glass.
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Fr. Jerry took down a volume of Gaspar’s letters and I very dutifully went about photographing a signature of St. Gaspar. It was another occasion of wonderful hospitality.
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We had taken a variety of taxis to various places in the city. Everyone was so kind and helpful, and the taxis prompt and clean. Occasionally we took the Metro, but we had already had one experience of being robbed, we were not going to risk it often. The Taxi home of this night was incredibly expensive, about 22 Euro for trip that had only cost about 12 Euro before. It was time to get a good night’s sleep before our last day in Italy.

Posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. at March 1, 2007 2:31 PM

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Comments

Hey, nice plug in the Voice. Congratulations... (as she whispers, "public forum")

Posted by: Donalyn at March 6, 2007 11:19 AM