A year ago: Rome/Assisi Day 10

March 14, 2011

Today we had an early morning. We left the hostel to catch our train in Padua. This time we were a bit nervous on the train because... we couldn't find Jeff's Eurrail! We were all praying and trying to stay calm as we helped him go through his bags and sort through papers, until we finally found it in his Soprani's bag!

When we arrived in Padua, we hopped on the bus to St. Anthony's Basilica. Before a beautiful Italian Mass at 7:30am, they said morning prayer in Italian. Then we walked around the church for about an hour. I was able to touch St. Anthony's tomb and venerate it. In the reliquary, we saw his jaw, tongue, and voicebox.

There was also a gorgeous picture of St. Maximilian Kolbe with his dead body on the ground and his "resurrected"/pre-Auschwitz body above. Also, there was a Eucharistic chapel with 2 angels holding candles in the front.

St. Anthony's Basilica

We were also able to make a short visit to St. Matthew's which was just up the street aways. There were relics of Sts. Matthew and Matthias.Within 10 days, we saw relics of most of all the 12 Apostles and Paul and Matthias.

St. Matthew's

It appears as if I did not record anything from the trip back. Let me see if I can recall it.

We took the train to a certain place and then we switched to a double-decker bus. Emily and I sat in the front row of the top, so we had a fantastic view. And we walked about Lord of the Rings and how our travels relate to it-- especially as far as carrying around something extremely valuable and living on bread!