Isernia, Where is That?

Happy Octave of Easter!

After being crushed by the Papal Easter Vigil lines (it was like going to a popular rock concert and standing by the stage), we decided to celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at the Pontifical North American Seminary with our friend Fr. Joseph. It was probably the smallest Easter Sunday Mass we have celebrated in our lives (except, perhaps, the Easter Sunday Masses I attended in Mad River as a child, although this may have been smaller than those). It was a very quiet Mass in the crypt chapel with maybe 20 people in attendance including the 9 priests who celebrated the Mass. The people attending were mostly the seminarians that had not gone home for Easter break.

After the short Mass, we went outside and could hear the singing from the Mass at St. Peter’s. We waited a bit and then trekked down for the Urbi et Orbi blessing. The pope said, “Happy Easter” in many different languages. He then blessed the people in attendance and all the people they brought with them in their hearts, giving them a plenary indulgence of divine mercy. We then shared a delicious Easter lunch with the seminarians and said farewell to Fr. Joseph.

On the way back to the apartment we were staying in, we took the scenic route through the park with beautiful views of the city of Rome. We walked through eerie or perhaps comical part of the park which consisted of a large number of white busts of semi-recent influential Italian political figures. Surveying the busts, we found none other than Mr. Jim Lennon!!! Well, it was supposedly someone else but you can judge whether it was a bust of Jim Lennon or not. I had to get my photo taken with it.

For our last days in Europe, we decided to visit Fr. Francis Tiso, a priest friend of ours whom we have not seen in about 10 years. He lives near a small ancient town that even many Italians have not heard of. Isernia has ancient ruins and buildings that go back even to the third century BC.

Fr. Francis showed us his garden and shared his plans with the trees and herbs that grew in it. If the weather was better, we would help around the garden but it is lightly raining currently. We ate delicious food while we talked and reflected on the state of Christian ministry in many locales of the world. Fr. Francis showed us around the town and pointed out historical points of interest, some of which would be easily missed by the untrained eye. One I found to be particularly of interest was of the ancient laws for bringing cattle into the town. It had two bovine heads carved into stone with words beneath it on a wall.

We will be traveling back to Eureka in a few days. What an epic trip! It was in many ways, a rite of passage for Bernie and me. We have had so many great experiences and have incorporated new people into the fabric of our lives along with revisiting old friendships!