From the Friars: Lost and Found

This Saturday, the Roman Calendar offers an optional memorial to be celebrated in honor of the dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the largest Marian Church in Rome, Italy. Formerly known as St. Mary of the Crib because it houses the relic of the original manger of the nativity, it later became known as Our Lady of the Snows. This is connected to a legend that the sight, where the basilica was to be built, was revealed to a wealthy couple who vowed to donate all their possessions to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary. They prayed that our Lady would make known to them how this was to be done and in the year 352 on the night of August 5th at the peak of summer, snow fell on the summit of the Esquiline Hill where a church was to be built.

I was able to attend mass there on August 5th during a pilgrimage I made in the Jubilee Year of 2000. I was discerning at the time whether God was calling me to follow St. Francis and so I decided to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and then to Italy. The vocation director of the FPO’s at the time suggested I take what he called the BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary) tour. In short, a BVM tour would consist in relying completely on our Lady’s help throughout the pilgrimage and so he suggested that I travel with no money. “No money!!??” “In a foreign country!!??”; much like the neediness of the Prodigal Son, I thought.

And needy indeed I would be. For after traveling the entire month of August, living from ‘hand to mouth’ I found myself in a most humbling and compromised position. I was finally back in Rome on a sweltering Saturday night (eager to fly home that Monday) and so I decided to strip myself down to my boxer shorts and T-shirt to try to get some sleep in a park. I must have slept soundly, because when I awoke all the possessions I had, save the plane ticket I wore around my neck, the sleeping bag I was in, and my socks and sandals (apparently too offensive to Br. Thief) were all gone. Yes, even my pants! How was I to go to Mass that morning, let alone get on a plane the following day? My first thought was to go to Mary and so I wrapped myself in my sleeping bag and began to walk to St. Mary Major Basilica. I must have looked like a lunatic to every passer-by, but much to my surprise, within a block of the basilica I spied a pair of blue pants draped over a desk set out on the curbside, a perfect fit! I suppose it’s been a perfect fit ever since.

Br. Pio