Viterbo Retreat - Walking Trial

This is a walking trial that I would have like to use, if it were Spring, or not so cold and rainy outside.

Viterbo Retreat

This is another random picture from some of the windows in the house. The weather was rainy and cold, so I did not spend much time outside.

Viterbo Retreat - Attic

I went up to the attic and took this picture. At attic is now a bedroom, but once it was the top of the chapel/sactuary. In this picture I'm looking out through a little window up by the apex of the roof, out toward the road that leads from Viterbo proper up the long hill to the retreat house.

Viterbo Retreat - Mountain

There is a little mountain (big hill) on the property. Some people ventured to climb it. It only took them a couple of hours because they decided to take a short cut through the trees and brush. They all came back full of thorns, stickers, and cuts. Several people ruined thier jeans and shirts because of the thorns. The thorns even cut them through thier clothes, so they came back looking like they rolled around in rose bushes in thier swim trunks. It looked painful, even though they claimed it didn't hurt that much.

Viterbo Retreat - Choir

The book is an old book of Chant Antiphones for the various hours of prayer. The book is HUGE! It may look small in the picture, but it is about 3 feet tall, 1.5 feet wide (closed) and about 3/4 feet deep. It must way about 25 pounds or so. The paper for the pages are this animal skin (leather), and the cover is wood. The entire book is hand written (they didn't exactly have print presses when this book was made).

Viterbo Retreat - Choir

This is the 'Choir' of the building. It is located near the Chapel. This is were the monks would have done thier Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and all the other Offices of the day. It is basically the Prayer Room. This is also were we had all of our 'Conferences' (talks).

Viterbo Retreat - Chapel

This is the chapel were we had Adoration and Mass. It was an ... interesting ... design. From my Art and Architecture class, I can now recognise the column types as Byzantine design, with a Gaelic influence. A very odd combination. It must have been design by someone either very confused or very intelligent.

Viterbo Retreat - Hallway

This is the Hallway to my room. I am taking this picture simply standing up. I mention this because if you notice, the doors are a little short. This is not because the monks were short, but it was designed this way so that the monks would have to stoop down (bow) to enter or exit thier room. I don't remember why that was important, but I'm sure it had something to do with humility.

Viterbo Retreat - Room View

The retreat center is an old Capuchin monestary. It was later rennovated and turned into a retreat center. It is a beautiful place; very peaceful.

Viterbo Retreat - Room View

This is another view from my room. The retreat was a silent retreat, although we talked during meal times and our discussion groups after all three talks. The talks were designed to help us figure out what is keeping us from a deeper relationship with the Lord. For me, it's always my personal goals and plans.

Viterbo Retreat

This last weekend I went on a retreat in Viterbo, Italy. It was a great retreat. This is the view from my bedroom window. Although it is not yet Spring in Viterbo (which is about an hour or so north of Rome), the landscape was fairly green. It really never gets brown here in Central Italy like it does in St. Paul during the winter.

Prayer Intentions for Mar 14

Monday Mar 14:
Peine Family
Rex Poyaoan
Joe Prokott
Prom Family
Steve Pryor

May the Lord bless all of you this Lent. Amen.

Yestersday I went to the Lenten Station Church of San Crisogono. This church is dedicated to St Chrysogonus, martyr.

Prayer Intentions for Mar 13

Sunday Mar 13:
Chad Parsons Family
Nathan Parsons
Paskach Family
Patros Family
Mary Povek

May the Lord bless all of you this Lent. Amen.

Prayer Intentions for Mar 12

Saturday Mar 12:
O'Hare Family
Dave Onofrychuck
O'Rourke Family
Otremba Family
Paul Pagano

May the Lord bless all of you this Lent. Amen.

Prayer Intentions for Mar 10

Friday Mar 11:
Paul Myers
Myhrer Family
Eugen Nady
Nelson Family
O'Connell Family

May the Lord bless all of you this Lent. Amen.