It was a Holy Year full of initiatives and commitments for the whole Friuli – Venezia – Giulia, which saw the Association of Catholic Templars engaged in all four provinces of the region, in addition to the presence in the official celebrations of opening and closing of the Holy Doors.
Starting right from the activities next to the Bishops, at the Commandery ex val Noncello, province of Pordenone, this year in addition to the constant service at the Church of the Holy Trinity, entrusted to us every Tuesday of the year, we attended with our insignia to all the solemnities in Co-Cathedral, not only as a living testimony of Faith through our reality, but also against the countless thefts and vandalism that have generated tension within the daily life of the Pordenone community.
It was for Pordenone, a year of discernment and service beside the priests who help us spiritually on this journey, in the case of the Commanderia ex val Noncello our Don Otello Quaia appointed Minister Templi, Chaplain of our Association.
From Pordenone we go up to Udine, where the jubilee year brought the meeting between our Association and Mons. Nobile, Parish Priest of the Udinese Cathedral, who after several meetings, we found the common desire to review some historical and important churches for the the Udinese community of the center, reopened and brought back to the vision of its faithful. So it happened, in fact since July we have been entrusted with the Church of San Cristoforo, which is held open every Friday and Saturday. To inaugurate and solemnize this beautiful rebirth of the Church, a conference was organized on the Holy Shroud, held by Dr. Mauro Giorgio Ferretti and Dr. Camilla Camplani on the day of the feast of Mary Magdalene on July 22nd. In addition to the opening, agreed with Don Nobile, we reported the prayer of the Vespers, a sign much appreciated by the local community and the small participant.
Inside San Cristoforo there are many jobs to be done, in addition to the care and the decor of the Church itself, there are unfortunately rooms that require some masonry due to the formation of mold due to the humidity formed inside due to the lack of air circulation due to the permanent and lasting closure until last July. According to our thought it is a great gift of Mercy to bring back to life a church that as being Temple is the home of the Spirit, the house of the Lord where you can meet and rediscover that contact with the Creator many times lost or abandoned.
Further south we arrive in Gorizia, even here the Jubilee has brought its innumerable fruits. Just this year, stopping to talk with the Parish Priest of the Cathedral, Don. Sinue, we have been entrusted with a historical church of Gorizia, the church of the Immaculate. A central church is very dear to the community of the center also closed for many years, no longer officiated. It was the only church in Gorizia still with the celebration in Latin and then totally in Latin and then totally dedicated to the Immaculate, so very dear to all Marian groups and local ladies. On the occasion of the Jubilee and the annual event of “Border Tastes”, we reopened for four days the church admired by more than 1,000 daily visits.
After this experiment, always in agreement with the parish priest Don Sinue, we re-proposed the opening on the four friday of Advent, bringing the prayer of the Vespers and the Complete and organizing a moment of reflection, between medieval music and Sacred readings, the day of Immaculate
Solemnity of the Church and feast of the church. The joy of seeing this Temple open by the population was very much felt, seen as a gift of mercy and love towards our Heavenly Mother and for the rediscovery of faith, today more than ever felt given the time we are living.
Our journey continues and we arrive in Trieste, the regional capital, where we have been working alongside Don Valerio at the Church of Saints Andrew and Rita for more than three years, but this year we received a great gift for the Jubilee Year. We have guarded the Cathedral of San Giusto at night, from 1 to 5 o’clock, for the night vigil of November 3, the feast of San Giusto.
In addition to the artistic marvel of the Cathedral, this wonderful site of the year one thousand boasts and contains within its walls an extraordinary spiritual strength. In addition to being able to lend our contribution through custody in front of the Patron Saint of San Giusto, Saint of the Priory itself, and being within the Holy Year, our service has been completed by the custody of the Holy Door.
We end our trip to Muggia, practically at the border of our country with Slovenia, where in the month of August the Rector of the Basilic of Old Muggia, Don Andrea Destradi asked our support to guard over the Holy Door for a whole week, given the possibility of vandalism and possible thefts that were not lacking in the year at the Basilica. This is also a marvelous Church of the year one thousand above the Muggia hill, which has the entire Gulf of Trieste in view. A marvelous service in total silence and within a site that has seen history pass, full of faith and spirituality.
Thanks to this opportunity during to the Jubilee, for the whole winter period once a month we are with our signs in the Basilic at the Holy Mass, from spring onwards two tuesdays a month we will welcome pilgrims who will visit Muggia.
Non Nobis Domine, Non Nobis, Sed Nomini Tuo Da Gloriam
Fra ‘Alessandro Lombardi