Six Words: Abbey, Location, Neighborhood, Sticky, Appear, Basin
You have probably heard of St. Francis of Assisi. A number of years ago, my wife Denise and I visited Assisi in Italy. There is a street that people stroll and that has some shops and at least one church. We stayed in a hotel on that street. Occasionally you see a monk, I think a Benedictine monk, in his robe walking along the street. There must be an abbey somewhere in the neighborhood. The street follows the slope of a hill and at the end of the street, atop the hill, is the Basilica of St. Francis. A long, wide staircase leads up to the Basilica. The Basilica is huge. It was consecrated in 1253. Inside are marvelous frescoes by Giotto and others depicting the life of St. Francis, and perhaps how he actually appeared during his lifetime. It is dim inside. I’m sure there is a basin in there somewhere, after all, it is a Catholic church, but if I saw it I don’t remember it.
I can’t say how it affects others, but for me, it was a place that had a special feeling of reverence. That feeling of reverence sticks with me still. I’ve been in many temples, synagogues, churches and mosques, but there was something unique about the way I felt in that location. I’ve tried to think of other locations where I’ve had that feeling of reverence. There aren’t many. The ones that I do think of are Yad Vashem, which is the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, and the memorial room that you find within any Holocaust museum.
If you left our hotel and turned to the left you went to the Basilica. But if you turned to the right, you came to a fantastic gelato shop.