A packed house for both masses on Sunday morning, not including the hundred of people who showed up for the celebratory mass in the afternoon. I usually can get a seat in the church regardless what time I arrive for mass before it starts. Well today was completely different. I did my usual run-through to make sure everything was set for the mass and found all the seats taken a half-hour before the mass starts. I could not believe my eyes and wound up standing the entire time for mass. Luckily it is only about thirty minutes or so. Any longer and some people might have passed out due to exhaustion. Just to give you an idea of how many people attended both services, both Don Ignazio and Don Carlo said they almost ran out of the Host for the people in mass. Once I got to the altar, Don Ignazio had to start breaking it in half just to make sure everyone was able to partake in the Eucharist.
I had some idea of what Sunday would be like, but did not picture that many people attending. There many people coming in and out of the church, visiting the shop to celebrate St. Benedict's life. Monday was the day that St. Benedict died in 547, so everyone wanted to come to the place where it all began.
I knew lunch would give me the break that I deserved having dealt with hundreds of people. We actually had a full table today for the first time in a long time. The organist, Davide, and his friend were to eat lunch with us today. Don Antonio also joined in, since he would be spending the entire day at Sacro Speco to help in the shop. An interesting conversation came up during lunch. Don Ignazio was talking about how he cannot ever have his window open when he sleeps, because a lot of dust would fly into his room. Don Antonio chimed in to say that Don Heriberto would also have the same problem in Columbia, due to all the cocaine flying throughout the air. I honestly didn't expect that from him; that comment to me is something more Don Carlo's speed, but they are both around the same age and joined the monastery around the same time, so I guess I can understand a little better now.
Talk about chaos. Setting up for the celebration was very difficult for us with all of these people filing in and out of the church. We had to open closed off areas to the public, which of course meant people could aimlessly wander through the monastery. I had to keep an eye on all the visitors making sure no one wonder somewhere they aren't supposed to be and set for the service. There were so many chairs we took from different rooms in order to accommodate the potential guests and still came up short. Once again people had to stand for the service, including me again. I just decided that I would just wait inside the Sacrestia and watch the ceremony on the video monitors.
I finally got to see Anna-Lisa after the service ended. There was actually a German priest who showed up and participated in the service. She was talking with him when she spotted me walking back in. The first thing she did was scold me for not returning any of her emails. I tried to explain to her that I never got any of her emails, because I would have responded to help me with my lessons. And here all of this time I just thought she forgot to email me, but apparently she got the wrong email address. I gave her the correct one again and told her to send me an email to make sure that it works. Well I still haven't seen an email from her yet, so I don't know what to conclude.
After a long hard day's work I returned to my room only to be surprised by two things: a gift for my birthday, and fireworks outside my window. The gift obviously was from the ladies in the monastery, but the fireworks were to celebrate St. Benedict. I could not see the fireworks from where my room is, but I ran to the balcony view I found awhile ago. I arrived just as the fireworks were finishing, but don't worry. Monday I got my fill of fireworks.
I knew Monday was going to be a struggle. Clara was not going to come in today, since it was the festival of St. Benedict, which means that I have to handle things pretty much on my own. Luckily Cecilia was here most of the day to help me with things. I thought I saw a lot of people yesterday, but it failed in comparison to today. Every time I looked up, I saw another group of people walking inside the church. I managed to surprise myself today considering I had to balance answering the phone and questions from customers. There were several occasions when I had to handle doing both at the same time. My Italian is coming along very nicely. I have be persistent and try to speak as little English as possible. My real test will be when Matt returns to the monastery. Let's hope I can manage to keep this progress going.
Again I had to make the trip down to Santa Scholastica for lunch today. Luckily this time Cecilia wasn't giving a tour so I could make it in time for Don Carlo to carry me and Don Ignazio down in his car. I saw the strangest thing today at lunch that both Don Ignazio and Don Carlo mentioned the other day. There is a priest at Santa Scholastica
This afternoon a group of Americans came into the shop asking a question about of the frescoes they saw in the church. It was of a Saint named Onofrio, who was blessed with long hair he could fashion into clothes to cover his body. The ladies thought it was St. Benedict and Cecilia wanted to tell them who it was. I actually had to translate what she was saying in Italian so that they could understand. This was a first for me, considering most of the time I don't understand everything people say to me in Italian. It was also helpful to know a little about the story beforehand.
Shortly after this when the shop was emptied, Don Carlo entered to do his "shopping". He heard me listening to Gregorian Chants by the Subiaco choir. He was not impressed with how they were singing. Him and Don Ignazio are very particular when it comes to singing, but as for me, I actually like listening to them. I guess every priest in the monastery is a critic of music.
I did not get to see the festival in Subiaco today, because I had to work, but Cecilia did manage to take me down to see the fireworks. I was originally going to go with Don Luigi, but once I heard he was only going for the mass and coming right back, I decided that I didn't want to go. Luckily Cecilia was here to volunteer to take me down, and I am glad she did. I got to see them lighting the torch and have front row seats to the fireworks. It was worth being a little cold waiting for everything to start, but I will let you be the judge of that.
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