There's a great cycling path that follows the coast into Slovenia and into Trieste. Sadly, we didn't have time to do the whole thing. But one day we cycled along the route for about 20 kilometers.
We got pretty close to Slovenia, because my cell phone dinged and I got a spam message saying "Welcome to Slovenia!", with an offer to sign up for a data plan.
We hopped on a small boat to the island. The boat had an old wooden helm (tiller), on either side of which were taped up old faded postcard images of the Virgin Mary.
The skipper was brave and sure...
I was impressed with his agility. When mooring the boat, he'd jump nimbly out onto bow, stepping gingerly in perfect balance as the boat rocked back and forth.
It didn't take long to reach the island...
As we disembarked, we saw a Franciscan friar in a dark brown robe quickly duck into the monastery. The tower bell of the church was tolling...
You couldn't take pictures inside the church. The baptismal font as you enter the church is eye-catching. The font is hoisted on the shoulders of red marble sculpture of Satan, carved by a Franciscan friar. I'd never seen anything like that in a Catholic church before.
The centerpiece of the church is a large, crowned statue of Mary, which dates back to the 15th century.
We were most intrigued by scores of oil paintings that covered the church walls. They weren't masterpieces by Italian artists, but primitive folk paintings of local villagers who had died in accidents.
Each painting showed a villager at the moment of their death. Many depicted fishermen in small wooden boats being capsized by a monstrous wave. Others showed a child falling from a tree, or getting run over by an oxcart. A couple were of older women on bicycles getting hit by a car.
In each picture, the Virgin Mary was shown hovering above in a cloud, looking down at the tragedy.
"Why didn't she help out?" I asked Markus.
"Maybe she was just there to help get them to heaven..."
I think he's right. Musing about it later, I remembered the final words of the "Hail, Mary".
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death..."
Amen.
Barbana and the Blessed Virgin
One cloudy morning, we decided to explore Barbana, a small island with a Franciscan monastery and a shrine to the Virgin Mary. It's a sanctuary which dates back to the year 582 and a popular pilgrimage destination in high season. Each July, the Perdon de Barbana is held to celebrate the end of the black plague in Grado in 1237.We hopped on a small boat to the island. The boat had an old wooden helm (tiller), on either side of which were taped up old faded postcard images of the Virgin Mary.
It didn't take long to reach the island...
You couldn't take pictures inside the church. The baptismal font as you enter the church is eye-catching. The font is hoisted on the shoulders of red marble sculpture of Satan, carved by a Franciscan friar. I'd never seen anything like that in a Catholic church before.
The centerpiece of the church is a large, crowned statue of Mary, which dates back to the 15th century.
We were most intrigued by scores of oil paintings that covered the church walls. They weren't masterpieces by Italian artists, but primitive folk paintings of local villagers who had died in accidents.
Each painting showed a villager at the moment of their death. Many depicted fishermen in small wooden boats being capsized by a monstrous wave. Others showed a child falling from a tree, or getting run over by an oxcart. A couple were of older women on bicycles getting hit by a car.
In each picture, the Virgin Mary was shown hovering above in a cloud, looking down at the tragedy.
"Why didn't she help out?" I asked Markus.
"Maybe she was just there to help get them to heaven..."
I think he's right. Musing about it later, I remembered the final words of the "Hail, Mary".
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death..."
Amen.
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