Holy Thursday

Wednesday's lunch at Al Tubo's in Aci Castello

After dropping off Laurie for her flight to California I was somewhat depressed.

Nothing a good meal with a pretty girl and a sea view couldn't fix!

Holy Thursday Church Crawl in Catania

Our TE Pepe Strano, left, with his father, Senatore Nino Strano

Holy Thursday in Catania was very interesting. As you may know, Holy Thursday commemorates Jesus Christ's Last Supper before he was arrested and then crucified. This evening all of Catania's churches stay open until the wee hours of the morning so that the faithful can visit them during this key event of the Church year.

After our defensive meeting to review our Palermo scrimmage DVD, I met Pepe Strano, his girlfriend Valeria (the very first Pink Elephant), Jason and Christie to join thousands of people roaming the streets and visiting churches.

After starting at the Duomo, we made our way to Via Crociferi where it is literally church after church after church. We were joined there by Pepe's father, Nino, who is a member of the Italian Senate. Of the churches we saw my favorite was San Benedetto. This church houses a convent of nuns that are cloistered, i.e., they have very limited contact with the outside world. This is actually the only day of the year that their church is open to the public and it is spectacular! The nuns actually were up in a closed off balcony singing hymns with angelic voices. We could hear them clearly but they were only shadowy figures through the grating covering the balcony from our view.

We visited a total of 6 or 7 churches and then went to Nino Mannino's Tratorria for a very late dinner. Nino was the star again and the food was not far behind in it's brilliance! He also wanted me to say a big hello to Laurie for him.

To sum it up, it is GREAT to be a Catholic in Italy during Holy Week!