Umbria: Two Pilgrimage Churches (1606 & 1965)

"These days, when art and devotion rarely coincide, pilgrims tend to ignore the Templo della Consolazione, preferring the hideous Sanctuaio dell’Amore Misericordioso." (from UMBRIA, a Cadogan Guide, by Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls)


The Church of Santa Maria della Consolazion is considered to be a simplified and scaled-down version of Bramante’s project for St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome: a centrally planned church with closely corresponding interior and exterior designs, and topped by a large dome sitting on a drum. (Originally this church was thought to be the work of Bramante, but documents exist that show many architects had a hand in the project.)

Built on the outer edge of the 13th century walls of Todi, construction of this pilgrimage church for a miraculous image of an enthroned Madonna was started in 1508 and completed in 1606.

It is said that this was an attempt to create a perfect Renaissance temple. It is a travertine statement of geometric forms: semicircles, triangles and domes.






On a hilltop in Collevaleza, just about five km from the Church of Santa Maria della Consolazione in Todi,  stands the Sanctuaio dell’Amore Misericordioso (Sanctuary of Merciful Love) with a basilica designed by the Spanish architect Giulio Lafuente in 1965.

This site was established in the 1950’s by Mother Speranza Alhama Valera (d. 1983) and a group of sisters from Spain. A devotion was established around an early 20th century crucifix, and it was so popular that a large basilica was built to accommodate the throngs of pilgrims.


The 150 foot high bell tower can be seen from a distance and the basilica looms at you on the hillside as you get closer. A large stairway brings you to the bronze entrance doors of the basilica. A large platform roof dominates the façade.

The interior space is almost a fastasy of shapes with circles, towers, cones, pillars, and skylights. The nave is in the space created between two rows of brick cylinders, six on each side. The ceiling is reinforced concrete. The altar is the central focus of the basilica. (The devotional crucifix is still in the chapel next door.)
Light comes into the basilica from many angles, with rays falling onto the brick in changing patterns as the sun moves across the sky. Diagonal clear windows on the ceiling cross above the altar, and vertical stained glass windows are from floor to ceiling along the walls. The side chapels are inside the large brick columns and they are capped with cone shaped skylights, adding more light to the building.

Excursions in Umbria

Our week in Umbria included visits to five towns:

Todi, Spoleto, Spello, Assisi and Perugia.

Here are the "Happy Wanderers" in front of the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia. (Left to right: Vincenzo & Larry, Paul, Michael & John)

This is a view of Assisi, with the Basilica of St. Francis on the left.

There were flowers everywhere in Spello. (We thought that there must be a city incentive to encourage people to have flowers in front of their homes.)

The duomo of Spoleto was magnificent. Below is a fun detail from the facade.

This is the view from "le Scalette" in Todi, our favorite restaurant of the trip. The food was delicious and our waitress was fun! (We returned here for our final dinner before going back to Rome.)

Back from Umbria

A vase of sunflowers is in our living room, a gift from three very special New York friends who spent two weeks with us. We traveled together to Umbria, staying in a 17th century mill outside the town of Massa Martana, near Todi. It was a perfect place for us to relax and plan excursions to various places in Umbria.

The restored mill rambles over several levels.

There was a loggia overlooking the garden.  The patio next to the kitchen was a great place for outside meals.

A wandering stream added gurgling sounds to the environment and  a pool at the end of the garden was a fun place for lounging and swimming.

Birdwalking on the Aventine Hill

Yesterday I took the opportunity for a couple of "birdwalks" on my way home from Sant' Anselmo on the Aventine Hill. (Birdwalking: a style of going from "A" to "B" in a way that is similar to a bird's zig-zag path as it picks at food while walking.)

My first "birdwalk" was to the the Piazza del Cavalieri di Malta and the door of the Priory of the Knights of Malta. Peeping through the keyhole you get of view of Michaelangelo's dome of St. Peter's Basilica.
My next "birdwalk" was into the courtyard and church of Sant' Alessio, originally built in the 8th century, but now mostly an 18th century building.


Leaving Sant' Alessio, I continued along the road until I came to the simple exterior of the Basilica of Santa Sabina. (The Pope gave this church to St. Dominic for his order in 1218. St. Dominic and St. Thomas Aquinas were both residents of the adjacent monastery.) Like so many churches in Rome, Santa Sabina saw many architectural modifications over the centuries, but in the 1930's it was restored back to its 5-9th century appearance.
When I entered the church, I was captivated by the play of light coming through the windows, illuminating the beauty of marble Corinthian columns, the flat wooden ceiling and the decoration made of colored marbles on the clerestory.

The chapel on the left side of the nave maintains its' 17th century appearance. I caught a meditating Dominican in this chapel with his shoes off.

My final "birdwalk" before getting on the bus to go home was to enjoy the refreshing Bernini inspired fountain of the Tritons constructed in 1715.

Dissertation at Sant' Anselmo

This afternoon I journeyed to the Aventine Hill to the Benedictine College of Sant' Anselmo, built in the late 19th Century. When I lived in Rome in 1970-71 I often went to Sant' Anselmo for Sunday Mass. (In that era, many of the celebrants were American and it seemed that they first wrote their sermons in English and then changed the words to Italian. It was very easy for me to follow.)
I went to Sant' Anselmo because a friend from Caravita, Daniel McCarthy, O.S.B., was defending his dissertation for a doctorate in Sacred Liturgy entitled "The Chair for the Gift-Office of Presiding in the Assembly and Directing the Prayer: Four Models and a Single Vision." The two hour event was all in Italian!

Cantalice

A few weeks ago we took a Sunday drive to the Reiti Valley, about 100 km from Rome, to visit a friend who has a “country home” in the town of Cantalice. The Reiti Valley is special to pilgrims because there are four places that were important in the life of St. Francis of Assisi, including the town of Grecio on the opposite side of the valley from Cantalice. I remember first hearing about Grecio on a 45-rpm record I had when I was a child. On this recording, Mary Martin told the story of St. Francis gathering together people in the town of Grecio to make a living precepio, with animals and men and women dressed as Mary, Joseph, and shepherds. He used this tableau to instruct people about the mystery of the birth of Jesus.The earliest records of Cantalice date to the 12th Century, when it was part of the Kingdom of Naples. The town has a unique urban layout, developing vertically along a steep rocky cliff. There is a flight if steps that cuts through the entire town. The little village culminates with a medieval watchtower and the 17th Century Church of San Felice. (The town was the birthplace of San Felice, the first Capuchin Franciscan saint.)We were told that at the beginning of the 20th Century there were basically ten families living in Cantalice. After World War II almost everyone left the town for the larger city in the valley below because they wanted running water. Today there is running water and electricity, and the large homes have been divided up into many smaller apartments. However, there is no roadway large enough for a vehicle, so one must “walk in” to the village.

Larry, Maria (friend from Catania), Horst (friend & Vin's colleague) and Vincenzo