16.07.2013: Citta' di Marostica and Monte Asiago...
This evening was eventful...there were two couples (all of them 65+) who invited me (infact forced me) to join them on a visit to another couple who had a house in the near by mountain!!! I joined them...and we started around 4 in the evening, and I returned to the room at 11.30... after an evening indeed eventful!
MAROSTICA
Citta' di Marostica...or City of Marostica, is a city of world renown - though it is a small little town. If you google "Marostica" you will see for yourself the tradition that is attached to this small fortified city from the 10th Century. The popularity of the city today is the Chess that is played with live characters on the board, every other year to mark a historical event that is more than 500 years old. In the then brave city known for its rustic valour, there were two young men who loved the same belle. And when it came to settling for one of them, as their instincts went they decided to fight in the public square, with the obvious result that the one who dies loses the hand of the coveted beauty. When the father of the girl, saw how bloody it was getting, he suggested to them another method... instead of slaying each other, that they play a game of chess and show their bravery through their combat skills, with the agreement that the one who wins the game, wins the hand of his daughter. Thus began a tradition, that is commemorated once in two years, in the very same public square where the first chess was played. I stood this evening on that very square in the citta' di scacchi, or the city of chess! I compared in my mind the various traditions we have back in our culture, lifting the millstone in the public square, taming the fighting bull, hitting the prized pot blindfolded..and many others.
From the public square we took a walk around the little town and came to the part where there are two churches from one from the 15th century and the other from the 17th century...the one from the 17th century, where we entered first was a Church built in the patronage of St. Antony... you would wonder if it is St. Antony of Padova or St. Antony of Egypt, the Abbot. You would have the same doubt even if you entered the Church because both the Saint Antonys are represented with their statues their. Your doubt will be clarified only when you exit the Church and read the plaque that is place beside the entrance...which reads, St. Antony, the Abbot...the third century saint, whose feast day is celebrated on 17th January (Vanatthu Anthoniyar as he is known in our place!!!).
Standing outside the Church, there was a dilemma - whether to proceed or to visit also the second Church that was their. Though the others said otherwise, I felt we should go and pay a visit to that Church too, though it looked much smaller and less inviting from outside. When we reached there, and prayed for a while and came out, those who accompanied me, thanked me profusely - for it was a Church dedicated to Blessed Mother of Carmel!!! (Today - 16th July...was the feast proper of Our Blessed Mother of Mt. Carmel) and to visit the Church of the Lady of the Scapular...was a special blessing! One of them rightly pointed out, "Our Blessed Mother herself brought us here today"
MONTE ASIAGO
Monte Asiago, where the couple awaited us, is another historical landmark on the map of world history. The two World Wars were fought on this mount...Italy, supported by England, America, Hungary and Austria; versus Germany, supported by its allies. It was ground zero of the battle and it is said on this mount alone 24,000 Italian soldiers have died for the country along with three to five thousand of the ally soldiers. Just a question of 200 meters from the house to which we went, there were two cemeteries... for the soldiers who died in the war. Not just that the whole area is surrounded by symbols and memories of the wars, which have not left the minds of the people here. Infact the couple whose house we reached told us, that just that morning as they dug a small part of their land infront of their house to make a vegetable garden their pickaxe brought out from the land a bomb-shell still not detonated...when they panicked about it, an expert who had come from the museum, told them that it is already dead, due to the water and mud that have entered it. The bomb-shell was carried away to the museum! however they had something else to show us, another equally prized recovery, a star that might have adorned the shoulder strap of a General or someone of his ranks those days...and they showed us also what they have found there over the years...bullet shells, bullets, balls used in the olden day canons etc.
As we had our dinner together, the 3 couples and I, they asked me to bless the meal and in my silence, I turned my grateful heart to the Lord. These three couples, not related, but just friends...had a fellowship among them that was so admirable. What prompted them to invite me to be part of that fellowship today? Who am I to be part of them? Being of the waning generation, they were more at home with the dialect than italian; unless very conscious about my presence, they were spontaneously conversing in the dialect, which i understood little. However, I enjoyed being with them and listening to them; I pitied them for having had to every now and then switch from their dialect to italian so that i may understand what they said.
My ultimate feeling was this: besides the great historical things and the picturesque mountains that i came across, i felt i was blessed to be around persons with such goodness in their hearts. People who had no, absolutely no need to have taken me along and made sure i had a good evening, but were going out of their way to make me feel loved, accepted and cared for. It was a true sign of the love of God showered on me, however little I deserved it in reality.