In Rome - Part 2

On Friday, we traveled 200 miles to the northeast to a small town overlooking the Adriatic Sea to visit the Basilica of the Holy House in Loreto, where Fr. Robert celebrated Mass. This Basilica is built around and protects a very special building located right in its center, that being the Santa Casa.

The Santa Casa, the Holy House, is what tradition holds is the very house in which Mary lived in Nazareth. It is where she was born and grew up, where she received the Annunciation from the angel Gabriel, where the Holy Family resided, and where Jesus spent his childhood. Further, on an altar in the house is where St. Peter the Apostle celebrated his first Holy Mass after the Resurrection.

So why is it in Loreto, Italy, and not Nazareth? Well, the means of how it was moved is not entirely clear, whether it was by miraculous or human means, but the account of why it was moved is clear: it was to protect it from being destroyed by Muslim armies invading the Holy Land in 1291. It was first moved to a location in present-day Croatia, before making its way to Italy. The house is made of stones geologically from Nazareth as opposed to anywhere in Italy; it is missing one wall, and is the same dimensions as a foundation located directly abutting the remaining grotto structure of the house in Nazareth.

Today, however, Fr. Robert is celebrating Mass at the Friary of St. Francis at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, especially in commemoration of this year's 800th anniversary of Francis' death. The Friary is built around the tomb of Francis, which was originally built outside the city walls on the side of a hill named the Hill of Hell, as it was where the gallows of prisoners sentenced to death stood. Francis wanted to be buried here specifically in imitation of Christ, who was sentenced to death like a criminal.

Construction of the Basilica was begun by Pope Gregory IX in 1228, two years after the death of Francis. It consists of an Upper Basilica, a Lower Basilica which originally was designed as a crypt, and a crypt below the Lower Basilica, which is the level that houses the actual tomb of Francis. Surrounding this all is the friary, to create one giant center of Franciscan spirituality, seemingly jutting out the side of the hill, all centered around the tomb of their founder: Francis. It is quite an impressive sight to see, from anywhere you see it, either looking at the upper basilica from the medieval town, or up at the whole complex from the modern town at the bottom of the hill.