Visits to Monasteries and Study Trips

Others of us visited or spent short periods of retreat in Italian monasteries and communities: br Vincenzo and br Sabino stayed at the Certosa di Serra San Bruno in Calabria; sr Raffaela gave a course on “Liturgy and Iconography” at the monastery of Dumenza; br Adalberto travelled to Settignano (FI) to give a conference on spiritual fatherhood in the Russian tradition to the Community of the sons of God founded by don Divo Barsotti. Finally, br Guido and br Vincenzo went to the monastery of Praglia (PD) for the blessing of the new abbot dom Norberto Villa, while br Lino and br Michele participated at the funeral of sr Brigitte of the hermitage of Campello, with which we are bound especially through the memory of sister Maria. We would like to make her known to a wider public, so recently we have published her correspondence with father Giovanni M. Vannucci and with don Primo Mazzolari and have been listening to a reading of some of her writings during the midday office.
In these months sr Maria, br Matthias, sr Natalia, and br Rupert have taken turns in spending brief periods at our fraternity in Jerusalem, while br Edoardo, who lives there habitually, is spending several months in Bose for a period of rest.
Br Guido and br Matthias have participated in the third phase of reflection and encounter, held in Wittenberg, in preparation for the European Ecumenical Assembly, which is to take place in Sibiu in September.