St. Francis of Assisi

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My first stop was a St. Francis of Assisi Church. Last year, I went to St. Francis's church in Assisi, Italy. I am not Catholic, but I knew that he was a Saint for animals. So, I prayed for my dog Cliff there. He has passed on since then and I wanted to Thank St. Francis for whatever he has given Cliff on his journey. After I have asked more than handful of people where the church is, I somehow arrived at this building with a nice security guard. It seemed like he was asking me why I wanted go there, so I said I wanted to pray (in hand gesture). I figured the church must be open to everyone to pray. He kept saying thing I did not understand at all then took me down to a basement of a building and a courtyard and introduced me to someone. As it turned out the church was under renovation and was in a complete darkness. He grabbed construction lamp and gave me a grand tour of the part of the church. I did not understand him much, but I understood that he was showing me and calling out each Saint at each altar. They are all so beautiful to see them in a lantern. When we got to a main altar I had asked him if I could have a moment for myself to pray. Next few minutes, I cried my eyes out, thanking St. Francis thinking of Cliff and also thanking this nice guide who gave me a private tour of the place.

When I was done praying, I thanked him and was ready to go. Then he took me to a next church over which was open. I was so confused at the time. However I found out later that they are both St. Francis of Assisi Church and I was in a older one which was under renovation. I am not sure why the security guard took me to the closed for renovation, but I certainly did enjoy the experience. These kind of accidental exploration is what I like about traveling.

I continue to explore rest if the church. I wandered into a store and asked the lady there if there is any St. Francis's medallion in my broken spanish with gesture. She told me that souvenir store for the church is only open from 1pm. She went to look for St. Francis,s medallion, but could not find in her pile. However, she went to ahead and picked couple of the medallion and decided to give them to me as a gift. Are people really nice around here, or my broken Spanish make people feel like they have to help me?

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