By Junno Arocho Esteves
ROME (CNS) —
U.S. Archbishop Alexander K. Sample was preparing to celebrate Mass Oct. 26
with Benedictine monks in Norcia when the first of two powerful earthquakes
struck.
“I had
no sooner finished (the vesting) prayer to be protected from the assaults of
Satan when bang: It just hit and it hit with a vengeance. It didn’t last very
long, but it really shook the building we were in,” Archbishop Sample of
Portland, Oregon, told Catholic News Service in Rome the next morning.
No casualties were reported
from the quakes. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, an earthquake
measuring 5.5 struck shortly after 7 p.m. local time and a 6.1 magnitude quake
followed two hours later. Both were centered in Italy’s Marche region, not far
from Norcia.
Archbishop
Sample and other Portland pilgrims were visiting Norcia, the birthplace of St.
Benedict, during a trip to Italy for the fifth annual Populus Summorum
Pontificum pilgrimage, an international gathering for Catholics devoted to the
extraordinary form of the Mass.
Speaking by telephone from
Norcia, the archbishop said that despite feeling aftershocks during the Mass,
he finished celebrating and was already in his hotel room when the second
earthquake struck.
Although things seem to calm
down, “there were a number of aftershocks” throughout the night, he
said.
“I think about three times
during the night, I was halfway out of bed to get to the door,” he said.
“I confess, I’m a bit of a chicken and I slept in my clothes last night in
case I had to run outside; I wanted to be properly attired. It was not the most
restful night.”
While Archbishop Sample was
with the Benedictine monks, he said another group from Portland, led by Father
John Boyle, also had “a harrowing experience” during the earthquake
while celebrating Mass in the crypt of the Basilica of St. Benedict in Norcia.
“Father Boyle was just
beginning the preparatory prayers for holy Communion when it hit and he took
shelter underneath the altar and instructed the other pilgrims to take cover
under the pews,” the archbishop told CNS.
When the earthquake ended,
Archbishop Sample said, the pilgrims went outside the church and Father Boyle
brought them Communion.
The archbishop said that Father
Boyle found it “very moving to see the people kneeling on the ground to
receive holy Communion; it was beautiful.” After Mass, several monks
helped retrieve the pilgrim’s personal items from the church before they
returned to their hotel.
Pope
Francis took to social media to express his solidarity with those affected,
tweeting: “I am close in prayer to the people struck by the new earthquake
in central Italy.”
The
earthquakes, which came two months after a powerful quake devastated several
towns in the region, left several churches with major damage.
Avvenire, the newspaper of the
Italian bishops’ conference, reported that one of the destroyed buildings was
the 13th-century church of San Salvatore in Campi,” just outside the
center of Norcia.
The church “no longer
exists,” Archbishop Renato Boccardo of Spoleto-Norcia told Avvenire. “I’m
trying to contact the pastor but communications are interrupted at this
time.”
The rose window of Sant’ Eutizio Abbey, one of Italy’s
oldest monasteries dating back to the 5th century, also collapsed following the
first earthquake.
The 6.1
quake Oct. 26, the U.S. Geological Survey said, “is currently the largest
aftershock” of the Aug. 24 quake that struck central Italy. The epicenter of the August earthquake was close
to Norcia; with a magnitude of 6.2, it caused the deaths of close to 300
people.
– – –
Follow Arocho on Twitter:
@arochoju.
– – –
Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
