CATCHING UP: A STOLEN WALLET, LOST TIME AND A PROMISE TO VISIT A SAINT
I’ll be going to Assisi next week to see the mortal remains of St. Francis as the Catholic Church, the town of Assisi and the world’s faithful mark the 800th anniversary of his death, known as the transitus. The Jubilee Year for St. Francis is precisely that, a year, but his remains will be available for the faithful to see and pray before only from February 22 to March 22. Following that, the remains of the saint called “the poverello of Assisi” will again be in his closed coffin above the altar in the lower church of the basilica named for him. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. If you will be in Italy in those weeks, you too can reserve a visit by going to the official website for a free, mandatory and pre-booked time slot.
Today is a bit of a catch-up day because of something that happened Sunday that has resulted in a huge loss of time I would normally dedicate to work. Put quite simply, I was robbed of my wallet, somewhere on one of the two busses I took to get home after the 10:30 Mass at S. Patrick’s. I have absolutely no idea how or where that happened but it had to be an amazing sleight of hand!
I got off the second bus, crossed the street and went, as I always do on Sundays, to Homebaked for brunch and immediately realized the loss. Also immediately, I started the always lengthy process of notifying banks, etc. whose credit or debit card were in my wallet. I had my cell phone so could message the bank in Rome and call the US bank.
The next must-do step in Italy is to report a theft to the police. Fortunately, the carabinieri are a block from my house. They were delightful and very efficient and I learned that the smiles on their faces were from Friday’s audience with Pope Leo about whom thy spoke enthusiastically. In Italy, in order to get a new ID card, bank card, etc., you must present the denuncia, the police report.
Would you ever see this in a police station in the U.S.? These two crosses are on a wall in the carabinieri office I went to for my denuncia. The one on the left is from the recently-ended Jubilee of Hope 2025 and the one on the right from the 2015-16 Jubilee of Mercy.
I don’t know how I did it but Sunday I worked on a script for my weekly segment on “At Home with Jim and Joy” and then filmed it Monday near St. Peter’s Square!
Much of yesterday was spent going to places to present that police report and start the process for a new bank card and/or ID. Much of today was spent online or on the phone with a US bank and the various sites that have a credit card on file to notify them of a change of card.
Back at Homebaked Monday for lunch in the midst of my errands and filming, I decided that this (in addition to a sandwich) was a good way to react to the drama of a theft!
I apologize for the lack of Vatican news yesterday but here are two links to items you will want to read: Remains of St. Francis to be visible for veneration in Assisi – Vatican News and Vatican unveils initiatives to mark 400th anniversary of St. Peter’s Basilica – Vatican News
P.S. I also lost a lot of time these past few days trying to find out why I had not received any new emails in Yahoo for days. The Yahoo Help desk was of no help, and so today I just started to click on anything I could on Yahoo email and lo and behold, there were 76 unread mails in my Trash box!
Shakespeare wrote “All’s well that ends well” but he could have added ”even if a few kinks remain!”
Joan's Rome 