Walking in the footsteps

Pilgrimages to Assisi and Rome allow Alvernia faculty, staff and students to explore the university's genesis

By Jon Fassnacht
 

The roots of Alvernia University stretch back centuries and across continents.
 

Though founded in 1958 by the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters, it has its genesis in 13th century Italy, where Saint Francis of Assisi, the university’s Patron Saint, walked the streets spreading the Gospel.
 

One of only 24 Franciscan institutions in the United States, Alvernia reconnects with its roots through its Assisi Pilgrimage program, which offers 10-day journeys through Assisi and Rome. Faculty, staff, and students can traverse the paths walked by Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi, one of his first followers, founder of the Order of Poor Ladies and the first woman to write a set of monastic guidelines.
 

“It drives home how and why we are a mission-focused institution,” said Jamie Caporizo, Alvernia’s Senior Director of Mission and Ministry. “Going to these places, seeing where Francis and Clare lived, and to know the paths that they walked and to see the lengths that they went to minister to poor people, it just puts it in such a real perspective when you’re walking in their footsteps.”

"If you want to get a deep understanding of our values, and a deep understanding of where the Franciscan nature of service comes from, there’s no substitute for going to Assisi." — Alvernia President John R. Loyack

The pilgrimages began in 2012, with the first pilgrims composed of two staff members and one faculty member, according to Sister Roberta McKelvie, OSF. Students started making the trip a few years later.
 

Pilgrimage stops en route to Assisi include Greccio, where, as Saint Bonaventure writes, Francis constructed the first nativity scene and witnessed the miracle of the event; the childhood homes and basilicas of Francis and Clare, including the jail cell where Francis was imprisoned for giving away his father’s wealth; and the ancient cathedral of San Rufino where Francis and Clare were baptized. Pilgrims also journey to Rome to experience the Vatican, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, and other sacred sites and monuments. With each step of the experience comes a new story, a life lesson, a moment for spiritual reflection and a communal moment with fellow pilgrims.

Caporizo, President John R. Loyack, and Senior Vice President and Provost Glynis Fitzgerald were among a handful of university leaders to take the Presidential Pilgrimage in October 2021, a trip delayed numerous times due to the COVID pandemic.
 

Every pilgrim speaks to the communal aspect of the journey. Experiencing sacred places together and opening up to one another during reflections leads to moments of raw emotion and shared therapeutic empathy, allowing pilgrims to experience things through the eyes of others, according to Loyack. Making that fellowship even more meaningful for him was the presence of daughter Shawn, who came along for the journey.
 

“Part of the joy of the trip was getting to spend that much time with her in one spot, being able to experience it together,” Loyack said. “The wrap-up session we did the evening before we left where everybody shared their personal feelings, the closeness and bond that created enriched the experience. My daughter being in tears sort of redefining her definition of Catholicism is just something that will never leave me.”
 

Fitzgerald approached the trip like an academic, but she soon realized she was on a life-changing spiritual journey. On the second day, pilgrims were encouraged to renew their baptismal vows.
 

That did it.

“There was a communal peace where people regardless of language came together in the same spiritual place,” Fitzgerald said. “The experience has changed how I approach leadership. Clare was such a strong leader while also being a Sister among Sisters. It all came together for me when we saw where she slept and worked; where she came from as nobility to where she died in poverty. I try to keep the stories of her experiences and her servant leadership in mind as I make decisions.”
 

Among the pilgrims was Bernardine Franciscan Sister Tereza das Dores Lima, who dreamed of traveling to Assisi for most of her adult life. She and Provost Fitzgerald developed a bond because of their shared experiences on the pilgrimage.
 

“Being able to travel with Sister Tereza and hear her life story and get to know her as a person, as a woman and as a leader forever changed my perspective of how strong our sisters are and how much they contribute to the world,” Fitzgerald said.
 

After numerous unsuccessful attempts to make the pilgrimage over 20 years due to a series of timing and regulation circumstances that restricted her ability to travel, das Dores Lima finally got her chance last year.
 

At first, she felt a bit nervous about living her long-delayed dream with a group she didn’t know very well. But that quickly passed.
 

“When we started to get together, getting to know one another and sharing experiences, it was very powerful for me,” she said. “Because I was not there with strangers, I was there with my brothers and my sisters. We were a true Franciscan community. We prayed together, we laughed together, we even cried together.”
 

Along with eliciting feelings of gratitude and joy, the journey had a profound effect on her. On occasion, she felt embraced by Frances and Clare, “and it’s helped me to be even more grateful for the vocation that God had given me as Bernardine Franciscan sister.”
 

Four scholars are selected to make the annual Student Pilgrimage, aided by funding from donors, an endowment and the Diocese of Allentown. Julia Martorano recently returned from this year’s journey, which was postponed from January due to yet another COVID surge.
 

“There was a lot of time to reflect, so it gave me new ways to view not only my own life but my purpose, my future career and my faith,” said the senior majoring in occupational therapy. “Being able to see things from different views will help me as a professional.”
 

The traveling quartet barely knew each other going into the trip but, as with the Presidential Pilgrimage cohort, emerged as a tight-knit group. Replete with visits to centuries-old buildings and churches, the entire pilgrimage gave Martorano a special feeling, but her strongest reaction came during the Clare Walk, which re-creates the overnight journey taken by the teenager when she fled her family’s wealth to follow Francis in poverty.
 

“She left everything in the middle of the night,” Martorano said. “It was far for someone so young to walk by herself. It was very reflective and powerful to experience.”

Going forward, Alvernia may consider increasing the number of students it sends, according to Caporizo. She and Dr. Darryl Mace – the university’s inaugural vice president for mission, diversity and inclusion – also hope to diversify the program. Expanded options being considered are a journey to the Camino de Santiago in Spain and a civil-rights pilgrimage in the southern United States.
 

But nothing can replace the original.
 

"If you want to get a deep understanding of our values, and a deep understanding of where the Franciscan nature of service comes from, there’s no substitute for going to Assisi,” Loyack said. “You don’t have to be Franciscan, you don’t have to be Catholic. It just builds a connection that you could never build without going.”