SUBIACO, Italy – If the guy had stayed underground, well . . .. “Well,” says Brother John with a chuckle, “if he had, I wonder where . . . where, indeed, would we be now?” Tall and good-humored, a gray-haired man in a long black robe, Brother John O’Shannassy, a Benedictine monk from Australia, has lived in this monastery called Santuario Sacro Speco (Sanctuary … [Read more...] about VISITING BENEDICT’S BASEMENT; A FASCINATING MONASTERY ON A RUGGED ITALIAN MOUNTAINSIDE
Travel
BHUTAN 2001
THIMPU, Bhutan — They look like springer spaniels on steroids, but with imposing horns: husky black-and-white yaks crowd the so-called road, abruptly eyeball-to-eyeball with the driver, Tshering, and our leader, Dr. John Constable, in the front seat as the van rounds a rock-walled curve. The van is not labeled with a bumper sticker such as “This vehicle brakes for yaks!” … [Read more...] about BHUTAN 2001
A COOK’S TOUR OF THE ENDEAVOUR
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Is Captain Cook receiving visitors today? Alastair Shaw, standing on the deck of Cook’s glorified (nonetheless illustrious) sailboat called the Endeavour, replies, “Sorry, you’re 222 years too late. The good captain departed this earth in 1779. Actually you’ve missed him by 232 years, since the Endeavour reached New Zealand in 1769.” Oh, I knew … [Read more...] about A COOK’S TOUR OF THE ENDEAVOUR
LIVING LIFE ON A BARGE
SENS, France – Whenever boating is the topic, a hot flash goes through my brain in the form of a vivid oil painting, a piece about the size of Rhode Island, from the brushes of a Frenchman named Jean Louis Andre Theodore Gericault. I saw it again recently at the Louvre, this 182-year-old canvas titled “The Raft of the Medusa,” and it hasn’t mellowed with age. In … [Read more...] about LIVING LIFE ON A BARGE
A HOLY STAIRWAY THAT’S TOUGH ON THE KNEES AND THAT’S JUST THE START IN GAINING A PILGRIM’S GRAND SLAM DURING ROME’S JUBILEE YEAR
ROME- Amid a black cloud of habited nuns, all of us playing kneesies with a rising series of walnut planks, I wonder if a cluster of orthopedic surgeons will be at the top, offering a Jubilee Year discount on arthroscopic carving. “It will be good for your soul,” Brother Marcelo, a Benedictine monk in Boston, had promised, hyping the spiritual joy of climbing the … [Read more...] about A HOLY STAIRWAY THAT’S TOUGH ON THE KNEES AND THAT’S JUST THE START IN GAINING A PILGRIM’S GRAND SLAM DURING ROME’S JUBILEE YEAR