Katie Ferris
June 6, 2017


On Sunday I had the pleasure to attend mass in Grado. With being raised Roman Catholic in a very Italian family in St. Louis and attending Catholic school my whole life, this mass was very sentimental to my travels through northern Italy and my stay in Grado. The mass was short and sweet, sadly I was not able to understand a single word since it was in Italian; however, I was able to follow along with the gestures, body language, music, and responses from the congregation and priest giving mass. 

To be able to attend mass in one of the oldest churches in Northern Italy is special. Many churches have been knocked down, preserved as museums, restored to become more "modern," dug up by archeologists, but this church has been kept sacred as the original building still stands. The original walls and a few of the mosaics and paintings have still been kept. Although it is a tourist attraction in Grado, mass is still performed every week. 

Of all the things I have seen and done so far in my past week, swimming in Slovenia, walking around Aquielia, learning Grado's history, and eaten a million wonderful, delicious meals here in northern Italy, attending Sunday mass was the most special and sacred. I felt connected to my family who came over in the early 20th century to St. Louis, MO. Still to this day my family practices Catholicism and by attending mass I feel my faith and journey being restored. 

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