A Mountain and a Saint

The weather has gotten warm again, but for a few days there it was downright chilly. After the scorching heat and dryness of the summer, I’m longing for the cool, crisp days of autumn and the eventual snows of winter.

Last year, winter was a bust with only one day of snow in November which melted very quickly. So, I’m anxiously awaiting winter and hoping we get some snow this year. It is a little early for snow yet, but I was pleased the other day to see that there is snow already on the Maiella, the high peak that makes a beautiful backdrop for the town. It’s about an hour away by car, but it looks like you could reach out and touch it.

The Maiella is part of the Central Apennine Mountains and, at it’s highest point, reaches 2795 meters or 9170 feet. As you can probably imagine, there is some great skiing up there. (Not that I’m a skier, but I’ve heard there’s great skiing anyway.) The National Park of the Maiella is amazing, full of natural and historical sights.

People have been living in the area since the Paleolithic era (800,000 years ago). Consequently, it has a long history of sheepherding, has been home to several hermits and is rich in Benedictine Abbeys and small rocky churches, many of which were built on the ruins of pagan worship areas. There are several hiking trails and walking paths and if you’re lucky, you might even see a bear. The park is home to the Marsican brown bear as well as the chamois, deer, roe deer, European otter, and wolf. There’s even a spa at Caramanico Terme whose healing waters have been used for centuries.

This picture was taken from the lower part of town and you can see part of the town of Liscia in front of the Maiella. Liscia is just a few minutes away by car, down our mountain (not the Maiella and not as high), across the river, and up the other side. If you look way down at the bottom of the picture, you can see the road and two small buildings. The whiter of the two buildings is the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel. Inside the church is a grotto where Saint Michael appeared to a local herdsman.

According to the story, many years ago a herdsman from Palmoli was out in the pasture with his animals and one of his bulls disappeared regularly. At the end of the day, it would reappear. So, one day he decided to follow the animal’s wanderings. He was amazed to see that at one point, the forest seemed to part to allow the bull access to a grotto and before entering in the grotto, the bull knelt down. When the herdsman entered the grotto, the archangel Michael appeared to him in a beam of light and the herdsman fainted. When he came to his senses, his throat was dry and he desperately needed a drink. At that point, water began to drip in the grotto and he was able to drink. It still drips there to this day and many people come to drink the miraculous water.

Liscia celebrates the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel on May 8th and September 29th.

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