I simply love the approach to Assisi-both the approach by automobile and the later approach from the parking lot into the historic center of the city.
Assisi, birthplace of St.
Francis and St.
Claire, sits high above the valley below Monte Subasio.
The city can be seen from several miles away and there is a favorite place where we stop and take pictures of the beautiful hilltown high above us.
This is one of my favorite views in Umbria.
I especially like this view when it is foggy and the city above appears to rest in a bed of cloud.
Escelators take us up the steep climb from the parking lot and we begin walking toward the historic center of Assisi.
Our entrance is framed by the flying buttresses that are part of the Church of Saint Claire.
There is something magical about entering this city underneath the arches of these buttresses, each of which is made from the pink stone quarried nearby and characteristic of buildings here.
The story of Saint Claire is not as well known as that of St.
Francis.
Claire, also from a wealthy family, heard of Francis' ministry and, against the wishes of her family, devoted her life to the service of God.
A sister later followed.
Tradition has it that the family tried to drag the sister back to her home but that God made her so heavy that her potential captors could not take her away.
The cathedral devoted to Saint Claire houses her mortal remains and also contains a group of frescoes that depict the story of Claire's conversion and the attempted "rescue" of her sister.
The church still houses a convent of Sisters of the Poor Claires, the monastic order Claire founded.
One day, as I walked through the church, I could hear them chanting one of their daily devotions, the sound and defracted light coming through small stained glass windows set in the walls between the sanctuary and the convent.
I often imagine what it must have been like to have lived those 800 years ago in Assisi.
How cold and dark at night, it would have been.
How strong the ties of family.
I am in awe of the dedication to principle that would cause Claire and her sister to leave the comforts available to them in search of and in service to a higher ideal.
Assisi, birthplace of St.
Francis and St.
Claire, sits high above the valley below Monte Subasio.
The city can be seen from several miles away and there is a favorite place where we stop and take pictures of the beautiful hilltown high above us.
This is one of my favorite views in Umbria.
I especially like this view when it is foggy and the city above appears to rest in a bed of cloud.
Escelators take us up the steep climb from the parking lot and we begin walking toward the historic center of Assisi.
Our entrance is framed by the flying buttresses that are part of the Church of Saint Claire.
There is something magical about entering this city underneath the arches of these buttresses, each of which is made from the pink stone quarried nearby and characteristic of buildings here.
The story of Saint Claire is not as well known as that of St.
Francis.
Claire, also from a wealthy family, heard of Francis' ministry and, against the wishes of her family, devoted her life to the service of God.
A sister later followed.
Tradition has it that the family tried to drag the sister back to her home but that God made her so heavy that her potential captors could not take her away.
The cathedral devoted to Saint Claire houses her mortal remains and also contains a group of frescoes that depict the story of Claire's conversion and the attempted "rescue" of her sister.
The church still houses a convent of Sisters of the Poor Claires, the monastic order Claire founded.
One day, as I walked through the church, I could hear them chanting one of their daily devotions, the sound and defracted light coming through small stained glass windows set in the walls between the sanctuary and the convent.
I often imagine what it must have been like to have lived those 800 years ago in Assisi.
How cold and dark at night, it would have been.
How strong the ties of family.
I am in awe of the dedication to principle that would cause Claire and her sister to leave the comforts available to them in search of and in service to a higher ideal.