The Abbey

By Jackson

On Saturday we went to an Abbey and we met a Monk named Joseph ("Yoseph") and he asked us if we wanted a tour around the Abbey.  He said to wait here for a few minutes and then he would come back.  When he came back,  I asked him why the statue of Saint Catherine had scabs in her hands.  He said it was a good question.  I didn't really understand the answer, but at least I got an answer! Then we went to go look at the cave where the first Monk who started the Abbey lived in for six years before they started building the Abbey where the Monks live now.   He said that two kids from Germany - his Goddaughter and another boy from Germany said that Jesus's wound was on the wrong side from his heart, it was on the right side.

Then we walked in the entrance and he showed us some frescos that told about the life of the Monk I told you about a few sentences ago that started it.  Then we went through the church part and they were getting ready for a wedding.  Then I saw what Brother Joseph was talking about. And then I saw that the wound was too low for it to get to his heart and it was on a rib.  Then we went back to the church part of the church area and we looked at where the choir sits and there were really cool painting things made out of carved wood.  And brother Joseph went to turn on the lights behind them.   And then all of a sudden Lilly started screaming, so dad took her outside. Then Joseph started talking about some things that I thought were pretty boring, but then Lilly came back in and it made it pretty exciting. Then we went to go look at some more frescos about the life of Saint Bernardo Tolomei, who started the Abbey, and the artist who painted most of them was pretty funny because he painted on one painting a donkey with two legs and said because he wasn't fully paid it's not fully painted.  And the monks said, "but the donkey only has two legs," and the painter said, "well, I see a bunch of donkeys around here with only two legs," and he meant the monks.  

After that, we went to go look at where they ate and they go in range of age, the youngest in the back and the older you get the closer to the front. There are six monks who are elected each year who sit at the very front under a picture, like everywhere.  Then I looked at a picture and asked mom what it was.  She thought it was David and Goliath. And then we took a few pictures. And then I asked brother Joseph what it was and he said the picture was David finishing off Goliath, and so mom was right.  After that, we went to go to the chickens.  And once we got down there brother Joseph started feedidng them grass and he said the chickens liked it because it was natural.  So we all fed the chickens grass and then we went in to see the chicks in a little coup thingy, but it was bigger than a coup.  There were a bunch of hens in there and a chick was stuck on the other side of the fence and I helped it back in.  And brother Joseph gave us some eggs and he told us to make sure none of the chickens saw them because the chickens would go crazy and if they saw some were missing they would start pacing back and forth at the end of the day.  After that, we went to go to the gift shop and on our way brother Joseph went to get some bag and a tissue so that they wouldn't crack, and he found 3 more, so we had six!  

When we got to the gift shop, I tried to look for something that was cool and that said the name of the Abbey.  In the end ,I found two medallions that I liked and Molly got a silver cross for 25 Euro.  The monks said I could have my medallions for free.  They were supposed to be 2 Euro, 1 Euro each.  And I got 4 post cards. And when we left we said bye and brother Joseph gave us his email and asked us if sometime we could email him. We said bye and went back up the hill.  Me and Molly and Lilly all got an ice cream cone that had really sweet vanilla and cherry.  Then we got in our car and went home.  The end.