Carolyn and Carly, see my comments concerning your comments related to the post before this one!
On June 12th we were able to go to Subiaco, where St. Benedict lived most of his life as a monk. The monastery has been restored at different times. The cave where St. Benedict prayed as a hermit in his early years is there and we were able to pray in it. St. Benedict lived in the late 400's -early 500's A. D., as you may know. The monastery clings to the cliff and has many small to larger rooms with many frescoes added over the years, depicting St. Benedict's life as well as other saints' and Jesus's lives. In the early days, frescoes helped to teach illiterate people ( of whom there were many) the stories of our faith.
Subiaco was a very special place for us. In the afternoon during the Italian's siesta time, we were able to be in the monastery by ourselves, almost completely, for about two hours for prayer and reflection.
Yesterday we were able to go to the Church of St. Paul Outside the Walls and to St.Mary Major Church. They both have beautiful art work and are very large. They are both basilicas, two of the four in Rome. The other two are St. John Lateran and St. Peter's.
Benedictine monks live in a monastery attached to St. Paul's. The Abbot there, Abbot Edmund Power, very graciously spent about one and a half hours with us telling us about the basilica and its history.
St. Mary Major has a beautiful mosaic behind and above the altar area, in what is called the apse of a church. It shows Christ crowning his mother in heaven and sharing his throne with her.
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2 comments:
Sounds like Subiaco is a very interesting place with lots of wonderful history. I imagine you enjoyed it very much! I would love to see some of these place also. Are most of the places you are visiting in Rome or are some on the outlying areas? Are you taking lots of pictures? You might have to learn to post a picture or two on your blog! We'd all like to see some of your special places! Take care~ Carolyn
Hello Carolyn!
Some of the places that I have written about are outside of Rome, for instance, Norcia and Subiaco. So, we are getting to see the country, too, and it is beautiful, with lush greens and many bright fowers this time of the year.
I am taking a lot of photos and will be happy to show them. A couple of people tried to help me send some photos over the internet, but we weren't able. It seems that Juno, as we were doing it here, with its free service, doesnt'let a person send too much in the way of photos. I'll try to learn more about it after I return to the States. It could be that I could send at least one at a time, but it takes up another person's time, one of our facilitator's time, who has a computer that works with my memory card.
Take care, too.
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