Seeing Italy From a Cloister

Legend has it that some 800 years ago, on a narrow stone step overlooking a 2,000-foot precipice in the Tuscany region of Italy, Lucifer paid an unwelcome visit to St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order, who had come to pray and meditate. Francis' faith was put to the test as he clung to the rock face while Satan threatened to cast him down to his death. The saint prevailed, forever marking the spot as a monument to spiritual strength--one that is visited by believers to this day.

Later in life, Francis returned to what is now Santuario della Verna, spending days deep in prayer. He asked that he might experience a moment of the love and pain that Jesus felt at his crucifixion. On the 14th of September, 1224, Christ appeared to Francis, bestowing the wounds of the crucifixion to Francis' body--the first recorded case of stigmata. A small chapel, built in 1263, stands on the spot, a place of pilgrimage where the awesome beauty of nature is offered as proof of the greatness of God.

Santuario della Verna, it so happens, is also a great place to stay. The large guest house, an updated version of the 17th-century guest house used as a monastery today, welcomes spiritual seekers and tourists alike. Surrounded by an immense forest and a series of moss-covered caves that are open for prayer, the area is what one might call the Yellowstone National Park of Roman Catholicism. The chapel, which attracts thousands of believers every year, is part of a larger complex that includes a hermitage, a friary, a basilica, and numerous prayer chapels, many containing relics of St. Francis.

La Verna is only one of hundreds of convents, monasteries, and other Roman Catholic centers throughout Italy that offer shelter to all who seek it. Many date back several centuries, occupying prime real estate in Rome, Florence, and Venice, and many of them were updated for the Jubilee Year.

Continued on page 2: »