St Peter’s Hazel Grove Rome and Assisi

On this, the day of Pope Francis' funeral, we began with a visit to the tomb of Saint Francis, located outside the city walls. The Basilica is a beautiful building that contains a stunning collection of frescoes by the painter Lorenzetti. After this visit, we had some free time, during which some of the group gathered to drink coffee and watch the funeral. Some explored the tiny passageways around the town whilst others hiked up to the castle to enjoy the spectacular view from the watch tower. After Mass and a delicious (and very filling) lunch, we travelled by coach to the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels. Inside this huge church is the Portiuncula Chapel and the place where St Francis died. Around it are the rose gardens. The story goes that St Francis, in an attempt to combat a great temptation, threw himself into some  brambles; these turned into thornless rose bushes, which still grow there to this day. We continued on to the church at Rivetorto, inside which are the tiny dwe...

Today we transferred from The Eternal City to the City of Peace. We joined a lively community of mostly youth groups marking Confirmation retreats; day trips or the presence of Carlo Acutis.  How privileged we are to represent our parishes in this wonderful, medieval home of Ss Francis and Clare.  The Franciscan sisters of the Atonement welcomed us for Mass and Antony continued his illuminating guidance.  Let us pray the peace we are experiencing follows us home and spreads out to our needy world.  James Gallogly Later we were welcomed by Roy Grant, a nonagenarian living in Assisi who welcomed us to his home adorned with antiques and ancient religious articles. A lovely man who served us prosecco and told us the story of St Francis and St Clare and described some of the ancient artwork from East and Western Christianity which he had collected through the years.We really got a sense of the timelessness of our Faith. We then enjoyed supper at the Albergo and had an eve...

Last night, a group of 5 including the 'Romiley Rockers' set out with some trepidation after Mass at the Irish college, to join the queue to pay our respects to Pope Francis lying in state. After a 4 hour wait, we were blessed for our group to be picked out to enter. One of our party needed mobility assistance and we were able to enter without the crowd. This made the procession very special - as we progressed up the nave, just our small group- it felt like a pilgrimage within our pilgrimage. There was beautiful music as if we were being greeted by a chorus of angels. We were all very emotional as we said our final goodbyes and Thankyous to this amazing man of the people. This morning we were up early. We were privileged to go to the Basilica of St Paul outside the walls where we were able to view the tomb of St Paul. We felt we were meeting the place where the foundation of our Church meets us the modern day catholics, where heaven meets earth. My personal prayer was to say ‘T...

Some of the group this morning headed down to St Peter’s square to see if there was any chance of paying our respects to our beloved Pope Francis. Others stayed to visit the church of San Clemente and the archaeological remains of a church dating back over the centuries beneath it. Stunning to know there had been worship on that site since the first century. So, we are queuing outside St Peter’s to visit Pope Francis as he lies in state. Maybe 1,000 queuing as we join the queue in the side streets beside the Vatican. Rachel, John and Christopher together as we wait for Bernie and Claire. 07:40 and the queue is moving. We have just given an interview as to why we are here, and what the Pope means to us. As the reporter commented, an interesting contrast to the Pomp of the formal gathering this weekend. So, having completed our media duties we are now sat in St Peter’s Sq awaiting the placing of Pope Francis to lie in state.  The Pope is carried through and the East Bell tolls with a...