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<\/a><\/p>\nOn February 2nd<\/sup> twelve years ago I woke up very early and caught a bus from where I was staying in downtown Genoa to the city\u2019s train station.\u00a0 The train took me along the beautiful Ligurian coast of northern Italy, though I could not see it well since the sun had not fully risen yet.\u00a0 I got off the train in the town of Bogliasco.\u00a0 Outside the station I spotted a small van with the same logo as the public transportation ticket I had purchased in Genoa.\u00a0 Three of us boarded the van and the driver led us through a three mile climb up the mountains on a windy road that oftentimes became a narrow one lane path.\u00a0 The journey ended in a quiet piazza by a church with a baroque fa\u00e7ade and a delicate, rose and yellow bell tower.\u00a0 I was right on time for 8am Mass in Pieve Ligure.<\/p>\nI grabbed three thin candles from the stack of candles lying on top of a small table by the door.\u00a0 Mass at the country parish was sparsely attended.\u00a0 The priest blessed the candles and gave a brief homily on the presentation of Jesus in the temple.<\/p>\n
During Mass I observed the faithful, pious elderly ladies.\u00a0 Only God had the privilege of knowing the prayers their lips mouthed during the consecration.\u00a0 More than one had a rosary in hand and fervently prayed it.\u00a0 As I knelt after receiving communion I thought, \u201cIn this very same church, almost 150 years ago, my great-great-great grandmother Maria Migone prayed just like these women. She prayed for the safety of her four sons as they sailed from Genoa to a better life in South America.\u00a0 She would never see her sons again.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Mass I introduced myself to Don Andrea, I had already spoken with him over the phone.\u00a0 He invited me across the street to have some coffee.\u00a0 He greeted everyone at the caf\u00e9 by name and introduced me.\u00a0 Soon we were met at the caf\u00e9 by Fiorella, the lady who would take me to the parish archives.<\/p>\n
I spent the whole morning exploring the baptismal, marriage and death records of the parish.\u00a0 As I uncovered the past, a sense of belonging to the small town, in particular its parish church, increased deep within me.\u00a0 Records confirmed that ever since the late 1600s generations of my ancestors were baptized, married and buried at this parish church in Pieve Ligure.\u00a0 The same faith that led them to pray at San Michele parish had led me that morning to San Michele parish to pray. \u00a0The same faith I profess today and pass on to others somehow already existed in this beautiful town centuries ago, and it reached me by means of my family, from one generation to the next.<\/p>\n
When Don Andrea introduced me to some of the daily Mass attendees one of the ladies said, \u201cI am sure one of your ancestors prayed right here to have a priest in the family, and here you are!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cMaybe so,\u201d I thought, but immediately all doubt disappeared from my mind.\u00a0 \u201cYes, I am sure of it,\u201d I said, \u201cit must have been so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Picture is mind, all rights reserved.\u00a0 Pieve Ligure, 2008.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On February 2nd twelve years ago I woke up very early and caught a bus from where I was staying in downtown Genoa to the city\u2019s train station.\u00a0 The train took me along the beautiful Ligurian coast of northern Italy, though I could not see it well since the sun had not fully risen yet.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":3215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[30,231,232],"class_list":["post-3212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-catholic","tag-faith","tag-italy"],"yoast_head":"\n
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