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| Bones of Saint Lucy as a relic. |
Today was a full day of seeing local attractions and talking about the ethics of mummy studies. MSFS student,
Christina Coon, wants to tell you all about it!
Day of July 23, 2017
Today we started at 9:30 am to go down to see the Museum of the Diocese of Santa Lucia del Mela that had a bunch of relics of saints and items belonging to the Beato Antonio Franco. In this museum, they had relics that contained the bones of the saints and objects that saints had touched. Some of the things that I saw were objects in the shape of a heart that were given to saints either after they recovered from heart disease or before they had beat heart disease, and there was some shaped like eyes if you had an eye disease. The silver eyes were objects that reflected Saint Lucy (Santa Lucia) or that you would give to her. Also in this museum, there were robes that the people of the church wore, and they were made of silk with gold threaded throughout.
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| Object showing the eyes associated with Saint Lucy. |
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| Items belonging to the Beato Antonio Franco. |
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| Students examine vestments at the museum |
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| Up-close look at the golden stitching on one of the vestments. |
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| Dario tells students about art in the church. |
The church that we saw today in Santa Lucia del Mela is beautiful. There is a grand alter, and around the alter there are amazing paintings and statues that tell the stories of saints. The restored body of the Beato Antonio Franco is in the church and is dressed in clothing that is historic and very beautiful. He died in the 17th century. The history behind the church is extraordinary and all the paintings were breath taking. I have seen old paintings in my art history class, but to physically seeing them was a whole different thing. It was truly an amazing experience. There was also this fountain that was pretty old as well, which was in the church that was super old. The whole church was probably my favorite part of the day because to be in such an old church and to see where Saint Antonio Franco was in his glass coffin was really cool. To see him in his robes and they were really vibrant was really cool. Just seeing the whole designs of the all of the robes seen today that were worn by the people of the church was really amazing.
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| An art historian tells students about the history of the paintings and statues in the church. |
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| The restored mummy of the Beato Antonio Franco. |
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| Dario describes his restoration work with the body of the Beato Antonio Franco. |
Today in our discussion, we talked about ethics for about two hours. It was a pretty great discussion. We learned about why ethics are important for religious reasons and political and economic reasons as well. I learned a lot from that and the readings alone. It was a great discussion!
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| Students have a discussion about the ethics of working with human remains. |
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| Pesto pasta with veggies and cheese. |
The food today was sooooo good!! We started off with bread, grilled eggplant, and salami that was probably the best salami I have ever had. I could not stop eating it! Then we got pasta with fresh veggies in a pesto. It was the best pesto dish I have ever had! After our discussion we went down to the Poker Bar, which is just like a café that serves alcohol, I got a cappuccino and a pastry that was a bread roll filled with a chocolate cream. Oh…my…GOSH it was soooooooooo good! I could have eaten like 10.
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| Cappuccino from the Poker Bar. |
The cappuccino is was also very good! I might not drink them when I get back because I know it won’t be the same as here. For dinner we had a lighter dish but it was just as filling and packed of flavor as lunch. We had delicious potatoes and a meat roll kind of thing. I don’t know what it was called, but it was also sooooo delicious! Then salad, and, of course, bread! (: The watermelon the past two nights has been so refreshing and the perfect way to end our meals.
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| Herbed meat patties. |
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| Potatoes with spices. |
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| Meatloaf-like entree stuffed with cheese and ham. |
The day was a really great day! It was fun. Sure it was hot, but it is totally worth it to see such a great city, and country and to learn the history of the city! It’s truly been a great experience and just keeps getting better and better each day. I keep learning new things, and get to do it in an amazing country and city.
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| Sunset from the convent in Santa Lucia del Mela. |
P.S. Make sure to close the doors whenever you leave a room (;
