The Franciscan Monastery, May 17, 2014

Last fall at my church’s annual auction, I purchased a tour of the Franciscan Monastery that was given by a fellow member who was once a seminary student at that monastery because he once had an ambition to become a Franciscan monk. But he eventually quit his studies then later he switched his faith from Roman Catholic to Unitarian Universalism. He offered the tour from a onetime insider’s perspective. I bid a modest amount and I found myself on this tour, which took place a couple of weeks ago.

I’ve been to the Franciscan Monastery before. The first time was when I was around seven or eight or nine when I was being raised in the Roman Catholic church and my CCD class took a special Sunday trip to the Franciscan Monastery where we attended Mass in the monastery (which I wasn’t thrilled with) followed by a guided tour through the monastery’s replica of its catacombs (which I thought was really awesome and way more memorable than that Mass I attended).

Years later I tried to upgrade my professional skills by taking a series of professional level classes that were offered through George Washington University where I ultimately got a certificate in Desktop Publishing. My assignment for one of my classes was to create a newsletter that included writing and pictures. I decided to do a newsletter that focused on touring the more macabre places in the Washington, DC area, which included the grave site of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the U.S. Holocaust Museum, and other such places that featured death. I revisited the Franciscan Monastery as part of my research for that project, even though I had since left my childhood Catholic faith behind and joined a Unitarian Universalist congregation.

It has been a number of years since I last visited the Franciscan Monastery so it was a real treat for me to tour the place with other people from my UU congregation. I had long forgotten how stepping into that place is literally like stepping into another world. Looking at the pictures I took, you’d have a hard time believing that this place is located just a few miles away from the White House and the Capitol Hill. Here’s what it looks like on the outside.

I even found a relief of a unicorn near the main entrance to the monastery.

There were numerous mosaics everywhere, such as the one in the photo below.

The next photo shows a close-up of one of the decorative pillars on the grounds.

The inside of the monastery is just as impressive as the outside. There’s eye candy everywhere you look from the ceiling to the walls to the floors.

The high point of the Franciscan Monastery is a guided tour through the bottom level of the building, which includes replicas of ancient catacombs and various places in the Holy Land.

The monk in the photo below was our tour guide for the first part of the tour where he gave an overview of the Franciscan Monastery. Once the tour continued down the steps, a younger monk took over as the tour guide. The man with the monk in the photo is named John Gaffney and he’s the person in my Unitarian Universalist congregation who organized this trip for the annual auction and he is the one who’s a former seminary student at the Franciscan Monastery.

Here’s another shot of the monk who did the first part of the tour.

The next photo shows the beginning of the basement part of the tour. This is a relief of the Virgin Mary receiving a visit from the Angel Gabriel who told her that she would be pregnant with God’s child.

The next photo is one of the hallways that was designed as a replica of the ancient Roman catacombs.

This next photo shows a box that contains the 500-year-old remains of an actual saint (whose name I’ve since forgotten).

This next photo shows a female saint (whose name I have since forgotten) who was punished by the Roman authorities for being a Christian and was thrown to some hungry beasts only to have the beasts lay at her feet.

The next few photos show some wall paintings and interesting patterns that I found eye-catching.

The statue in the next photo is a replica of the body of St. Cecelia, whom I remember quite well since she’s one of the more popular Catholic saints. (My mother chose her Confirmation name after St. Cecelia.) There’s a mark on her neck which indicates how she was struck three times on the neck with a sword but her executioner wasn’t able to behead her. She lived for three days after that failed execution attempt until she died. Her body was later found to be incorrupt (meaning that it had never decomposed).

There was an actual incorrupt body at the monastery. It’s of a six-year-old boy who’s known only as “Innocente” and he was declared a martyr for the Roman Catholic faith at such an early age. The boy was executed alongside his parents when his family refused to recant their Christian faith. The boy’s body has a mask over his face but you can still see his hands and feet.

Sometimes I wonder how a scientist would have a rational theory on why some bodies become incorrupt long after death. Or if it’s just one of those things that can’t be easily studied scientifically. The next photo I took is a replica of the Infant Jesus of Prague.

The tour ended with a replica of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which was built over the stable where Jesus was born.

After the tour we visited the gift shop, where there were all kinds of fascinating items on sale, such as these figurines resembling the current pope, Pope Francis, and the late Pope John Paul II.

I liked this statue that was on sale in the gift shop. Too bad it was out of my price range because I would’ve felt tempted to buy it on impulse otherwise.

I saw these large rosaries that were on sale for children. They were even color-coordinated for boys and girls.

I purchased a couple of items from the gift shop. One is this chocolate candy bar that had images of the Franciscan Monastery on the wrapper. There were even embossed images on the chocolate itself but I had purchased this candy bar on a warm sunny day and the bar was partially melted by the time I arrived back home.

The other item I purchased because of the pure kitsch value. This is a plastic crucifix that actually glows in the dark. Yes, it sounds pretty hilarious. I’m definitely going to brandish this about during Halloween.

We also did an extensive tour of the gardens outside. A lot of flowers were in bloom, which made for a lovely sight everywhere we turned.

The next few photos are of a replica of the Grotto of Gethsemane, where Jesus and his disciples held their Last Supper just a few days before Jesus was crucified.

The next few pictures are of the replica of the Grotto of Lourdes where a young girl named Bernadette Soubirous received a total of 18 visions from the Virgin Mary.

Below is one of the Stations of the Cross that were placed throughout the gardens.

The tour ended with a visit to a place where few visitors go. Like I wrote earlier, John Gaffney, the guy who hosted this tour was once a seminary student at the Franciscan Monastery. During his student days he stayed in this dormitory that was located next door to the monastery grounds. Since his time, the monastery has sold the dormitory to Howard University’s School of Divinity.

Since this building is used as a dormitory, we were only allowed to go to the chapel on one of the upper floors where the seminary students in John’s day spent a lot of time in prayer. The chapel was named for Howard Thurman after the building was sold to Howard University.

There used to be the Stations of the Cross in this chapel. Since the building was sold to Howard University, the Stations of the Cross were replaced with African-themed art.

Our brief tour of the dormitory ended with this splendid view of the road leading to the dorm.

The tour ended after the visit to the dorm. It turned out to be a busy Saturday because after spending a few hours in the morning and early afternoon touring the Franciscan Monastery, I rested for a couple of hours then headed out to a spring picnic that was held in the home of a couple that I know from my church congregation. Yes, I was pretty exhausted when I arrived home that night.