Many of you might already know that I am part of this Facebook Mom's group which has about
60+ women from all over the country (and Australia)... One of the mom's
(named Dina) also happens to be from Melbourne, FL and at some point
when I am home next I need to meet her in person. Anyway....
After the Pope was decided upon last week Dina posted the most amazing story in our FB group: Dina's Godmother had made plans months ago to visit the Vatican and try to see the Pope. Well, when the Pope stepped down she decided to go anyway... She was walking in the street with her friend and came across a Cardinal and asked him to bless her bible and a photo of her grand-niece's class. The woman's friend snapped a picture... later the new Pope was announced and wouldn't you believe it - it was the Cardinal that blessed her the day before! Dina posted a pic to prove it - and Tyler and I were blown away at the story. What an amazing coincidence for this woman!
Now the story gets even weirder...
Today I am reading the Barton Chronicle, and there on page 10B is the SAME PICTURE AND STORY! Dina's Godmother lives in Barton and attends St. Paul's Church! Her friend submitted the story and photo to the paper!
Today I am reading the Barton Chronicle, and there on page 10B is the SAME PICTURE AND STORY! Dina's Godmother lives in Barton and attends St. Paul's Church! Her friend submitted the story and photo to the paper!
And for a further coincidence:
ReplyDeleteLast Friday nite, I was at friends house for Friday nite dinner and a movie. One of my friends teaches at St. Paul's School in Barton, and she told us the story...I have been telling the story since! Here is the story as I heard it:
Two of the teachers from the school asked permission to take a week off for this trip to Rome, and the principal granted the request. (I thought it was a spur of the moment idea, as they wanted to attend the open air blessing the Pope gives from the balcony every Sunday, and they knew it was to be the last blessing Pope Benedict was to give, as he was resigning; but I guess for at least one of the traveling teachers, it had been planned in advance.)
Their plane had some sort of snaffu and they got to Rome later than planned, and missed that last blessing chance, and were pretty bummed, but decided they would not let that spoil the trip--they would take it all in...all the excitement about the pope elections coming up.
One day, one of the teachers decided she was going to get some priest in Rome to bless the photo of her class she had brought along with her to be blessed by Pope Benedict. They were roaming the streets and she approached a priest she saw and started talking to him, explaining to him her request, but he didn't understand English. So she took his arm and gestured as she explained again what she wanted.
He understood---he blessed the photo and they took the photo of him blessing the class photo.
It was not until they were back in VT that they realized the priest they had asked was the one who was now Pope Francis.
Joanie
Aimee, what a great story! And to think that the Cronicle picked up the story! Maybe all of the blessings from the Pope, will somehow trickle down to you and baby Grant!! I think of you daily, and am happy to know that Grant is continuing to grow!! Love, Martha
ReplyDeleteJoan had told me this story, which was wonderful! It is neat to think that you have a connection through Dina to this! I am glad this story made it into the Chronicle as it is newsworthy!
ReplyDeleteI think that gives you a blessing by association. What a great story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Darlene! When I first started reading this, I thought I had heard this story before as I had just read it in the Chronicle the other day. It really can be a small world. Hope you are all doing well.
ReplyDeleteTara N.