S. Maria delle Grazie

Is not every day an adventure? Within hours of my return to Rome, I was invited by a friend to spend some time at a monastery a bit north of Rome in Rieti, so I went to visit the Franciscan friars at Santa Maria delle Grazie last weekend.


Here life is much contrasted from that in the city. There is one road going by the monastery on which very few vehicles travel. With few artificial lights, one can actually see stars at night. It is much quieter than Rome, but one can still hear church bells from the monastery, and from the three neighboring villages in the surrounding mountains.


A beautiful monastery with beautiful surroundings. I was surprised to see so many flowers everywhere, and growing so well!


True to the franciscan spirit, the Bambino in the hallway of the cloister, and animals everywhere. When Fra Dino showed me to my room, he asked me not to touch the scorpion on the stairs (as if I was tempted to!). There was a rather large spider guarding the bathroom he showed me near my cell.


Emma is the most affectionate donkey one could hope to know. She is just a year old, and she wants to be with you wherever you are with the animals. The sheep and goats don't play with her, so she gets lonely and you can hear her bewail her lot throughout the grounds.




Above is a restoration of the 15th century image of Our Lady of Graces, for which the monastery is named.
Below is an image of the baby Mary, again in the hallway of the cloister.


The cloister, seen from my cell, home of about 100 beatified and canonized from the last 5 1/2 centuries. There are goldfish in the fountain, and some exotic white doves who think they are peacocks strut about the cloister with their tails fanned.