A delegation from Rotary Club San Marino took part on Saturday, 31 October, in the “Rotarians and St Francis” day organised at the Sanctuary of La Verna, in the province of Arezzo, to mark the eighth centenary of the saint’s death.
Together with Rotarians from Districts 2071 and 2072, the San Marino members visited the sites of the Franciscan complex accompanied by Friar Michele Pini, the sanctuary’s librarian and archivist.
The itinerary took in the Basilica, the Corridor and the Chapel of the Stigmata, as far as the Sasso Spicco. After Mass, the visit continued in the ancient Library, where volumes, manuscripts and documents preserved by the friars were presented.
In the afternoon, following lunch at the Foresteria and a procession to the Chapel of the Stigmata, the Friars’ Refectory hosted the conference “In the sign of Francis, 800 years since his Transitus”.
The Father Guardian, Friar David Gagrcic, noted that this was the first time the refectory had welcomed such a large gathering of people from outside the religious community. In his greeting to participants, he drew a parallel between the service to others promoted by Rotary and Franciscan teaching.
Talks by Enrico Bertoni, Friar Paolo Fantaccini, Giovanni Cipriani and Friar Michele Pini addressed interreligious dialogue, the meaning of the meal in biblical-Franciscan tradition, devotional pictures made with coloured wheat stalks, and the heritage of the ancient Library. The gathering was accompanied by musical interludes performed by the Brizzi String Quartet.
