"Ora et Labora" - Benedict's Norcia

In 480 AD, two of the greatest saints in the history of Christianity were born in the tiny town of Norcia in the Umbrian region of Italy, St. Benedict and his twin sister St. Scholastica.

We had been looking forward to going with Fr. Carola to Norcia, not only for the spiritual edification that it promised (though of course that was our main priority!), but also for the famed Norcia sausage (which I discovered that I didn't much care for... there's just something about cured meat... ugh.) and Umbrian chocolate (now THAT I could appreciate!), and of course, the hope that we might be graced with beautiful weather and SNOW on the hills at least (we got it, thanks be to God!).

It was an early morning, and a long day with all kinds of new transportation experiences - I'm telling you, by the time I leave Italy I expect I will have tried pretty much every form of transportation currently known to man. Right now I think I can now identify on sight all the major year models of the Eurostar train. But, I digress. (As usual.) I think I'll move straight to the photos now - enjoy!