She and her husband, Jake, are the cofounders of Life Restoration Ministries, where she serves as director of vision and ministry of the British Columbia-based apostolate. She has more than twenty-five years of experience as a speaker and retreat leader, offering workshops and conferences in the United States and Canada.
She attended Franciscan University of Steubenville, studying theology and catechetics. Heather is passionate about evangelization, discipleship, and creating an environment for people to have a personal encounter with God. She lives with her husband and three teenage children in British Columbia, Canada.
Join us as we talk about her favorite saint, St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Heather’s gentle wisdom makes me want to sit and listen to her talk about Saint Therese forever. Please join us and enjoy learning about another saint!
As we walked home after seeing the precious relics, we sat at a cafe and talked about what we wanted to do the next day.
I told Brian that I was truly happy with everything we had seen. Every place that was on our ‘must see’ list, we had made it to! I told him we could really do anything and I would be perfectly happy.
Sidenote: Brian has this incredible process for organizing and planning anything! I had ten million ideas rolling around in my mind. He created a spreadsheet and within minutes, it was clear to both of us what was ‘must see’ and what was ‘nice to see’. I’m so thankful he takes my thoughts that seem overwhelming and helps me organize them.
We walked into the hotel and I went up to the room and he talked to the front desk for a while.
Suddenly, the door to our room swung open and he said to be sure to answer the phone as soon as it rang. He had arranged a GLT (Green Line Tour) to Orvieto and Assisi! We were going to see a Eucharistic Miracle and where St. Francis and St. Claire were from! I felt like I was dreaming!
The hotel sent up a breakfast to go for the next morning and I wrote in my journal with tears in my eyes. When we left for Italy, I knew going outside of Rome would probably not happen. This felt like the icing on an already perfect cake!
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We had to be at the bus office by 7am. We had been told that the walking in Assisi and Orvieto would be very steep, so we opted for a taxi. (Did I tell you that there was a taxi stand right next to the Pantheon across from the hotel? It was incredibly convenient and there was always a taxi available.)
After about 1 & 1/2 hours we arrived in Orvieto. I was absolutely giddy when I realized we would ride up to the city in a funicular. It reminded me of the cog train in Pike’s Peak, Colorado.
The very first thing I saw when we arrived was the Cathedral in Orvieto. It was absolutely beautiful. It had this black and white pattern that was absolutely stunning. Inside, in a small chapel on the side, was the reason I hoped to travel to Orvieto. This small chapel holds the corporal of a famous eucharistic miracle.
The Corporal of Bolsena was a miracle that occurred in the town of Bolsena in 1263. The Corporal, the small cloth on which the host and the chalice are placed, holds drops of Christ’s blood. It is such a beautiful miracle and I hope you learn more about the Eucharistic miracles that happen today.
After an hour visiting Orvieto (that only felt like 10 minutes) we traveled to Restaurant Podere Bello for lunch. The restaurant is attached to a property that has accomodations and boasts of a farm-to-table restaurant experience. We chatted with the other travelers and enjoyed the food. It was so pleasant and romantic.
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Our last stop was Assisi.
Ironically, it has taken me months to carve out time to write about our day to Assisi. When I realized that today was the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, it gave me renewed energy to find the right words to share with you.
Our first stop was the The Basilica of St Claire. To stand under the San Damiano crucifix and be near where St. Clare stood was surreal. To be near to people who heard and followed and served the Lord with their entire life awakened my heart in a new way.
When you read about the San Damiano crucifix online, many times you will find the word “allegedly” when they describe the miracle of the cross speaking to St. Francis. I suppose that is probably what will happen when people read of my miracle – my precious Riley and the healing of my womb.
When I share the story, most people comment – “oh, you just had to relax to get pregnant.”
I remember shyly telling my father those comments and sharing my bewilderment with him. I wanted everyone to share in my joy and the mystery of the miracle of my healing. I want everyone to understand that miracles still happen today! He put his arms around my shoulders and hugged me into his side. He smiled and said, “What is important, is that we know.”
For a moment I shared in St. Francis’s hope for everyone to know the miracles happening all around us. I want everyone to know the peace and hope found is lovely days, in suffering, and all of the days inbetween.
As I came out of the Basilica, I saw it – a sweet and gentle nod from my Savior – letting me know that I’m seen and so very loved by Him.
St. Francis lived a life of scaffolding. He was asked by God to rebuild His church.
Yes, sweet St. Francis took that as a literal request, rebuilding a chapel and other derelict churches in the area, but God revealed that He meant to rebuild the people. St. Francis became the scaffolding for the church. His life was an elevated framework, supporting others as they joined his mission to be obedient to God’s will.
As a feeling of being deeply loved and seen by the Creator of all things washed over me, I renewed my commitment to live a life of scaffolding.
Have you ever wondered why certain people in The Church are called ‘Saint’? I have! Until recently, I did not understand the process of how someone is given the official title of ‘Saint’.
After Jennifer and I spoke last time, she had the wonderful idea to share the process of how you become a saint (with a capital ‘S’). Jennifer is a middle school theology teacher and adult faith formation teacher.
In this podcast, Jennifer walks us through the formal process of how The Church recognizes a person as a Saint.
By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors. “The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church’s history.” Indeed, “holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal.”
By now, I was beginning to get used to walking miles each day. We decided on Saint Mary Major Basilica for an early Mass to avoid walking in the heat.
Before I go any further in our story, I have to tell you about Mountain Butorac. He owns the pilgrimage company named The Catholic Traveler. We were scheduled to have a tour with him on Monday, but with the flight issues as the travel restrictions from the pandemic were lifted, he was stuck out of the country. Mountain sent us a detailed email of every church we would have seen on the tour. He included precise instructions of the locations of relics and beautiful history of every stop. His generosity made our trip so special. There are so many things we would have never known that we were walking right past, if it had not been for his guidance.
Thank you, Mountain!
Saint Mary Major
So, back to Saint Mary Major. This church is built where a miraculous snow fell on August 5th in the 4th century. Can you imagine snow in August in Rome?! After we returned home, I learned they still celebrate this miracle today, every August 5th.
The tomb of Bernini, Salus Popoli Romani, and relics from the Holy Manger are just a few of the treasures within this Church’s walls. The Salus Popoli Romani is an icon drawn by the Apostle Luke on a piece of wood from Saint Joseph’s wood shop. How incredible!
We walked across the street for a quick breakfast at a cafe. This is where I learned a very important lesson – the rope next to the toilet is not how you flush. This rope rings a very loud bell and people will rush in to make sure you are alright. I’m pretty sure they installed it to alert them to when an American was in the cafe.
I finished the most delicious breakfast – a nutella something and fresh orange juice. We listened to the bells from Saint Mary Major and carefully studied Mountain’s instructions on how to find the next church -Santa Prassede.
Santa Prassede
This is the church I fell in love with.
I’ve never heard of Saint Prassede. How is that possible?
The church is built over the tombs of over 2,000 martyrs. The sheer number is staggering. To think of that many people in one town being killed for professing their faith feels other worldly. It brought the martyrs of today into sharp perspective.
The pillar where Christ was scourged is there. I didn’t know this pillar still existed. I’m absolutely amazed that there weren’t lines of people waiting just to be close to something Christ was near.
Saint Praxedis, who this church is named after, was a 2nd-century daughter of a disciple of St Paul living in Rome, and sister of Saint Pudentiana. She cared for the bodies of the martyrs. One sculpture that was particularly beautiful showed her kneeling over a bowl with a sponge, wringing out the blood of the martyrs. She would hide the bodies and the blood so that they could not be used in pagan rituals.
There was a gentle reverence in this church that I cannot explain.
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
From here, we walked on to Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.
It was a long walk through a beautiful piazza. We found some shade and watched mothers play with their toddlers, drink coffee, and laugh together. We walked past the ruins of an aqueduct and watched a young family play basketball.
We sat on a bench and watched people enjoying a breeze and shaded grass, reading. Was it poetry or their favorite read that felt as familiar as comfort food? Were they rushing to finish every sentence for book club or were they savoring every word? We walked past a playground, with fathers giving their warnings of “just a few more minutes”.
When we arrived, the church seemed almost out of place. It stood alone, across a huge street.
This is the church I had been most excited to see. Queen Helena, Constantine’s mother, brought dirt from Jerusalem and used that as the foundation.
After Christ died, all the instruments of the Passion were buried. The pagans requested that a temple be built on top of these. What they didn’t realize is that the temple preserved the relics perfectly.
In her home she kept relics of the Passion. In the reliquary is the finger of Doubting Thomas, fragments of land from Bethlehem and Jerusalem, two thorns from the Crown of Thorns, four pieces of wood from the True Cross, one of the nails from the Crucifixion, and part of the Titulus (INRI). I sat in the room and cried. I had no idea that these still existed. It was an honor to be in the room with so many pieces of the story.
The reliquary is to the far from left if you are looking at the altar. When you enter, there is a beautiful room dedicated to a little girl named Antonella Meo. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was 5 and wrote beautiful letters to Jesus. She loved Jesus so very much and was reunited with him when she was 6. The room is very peaceful and bright. There was a table with a book to write prayers in. I immediately wrote the names of dear friends suffering from cancer.
We walked up a few stairs and down a beautiful hallway to the reliquary. It was quiet and dark. The relics were displayed at the far end of the room. I sat down in a pew and just stared and took a deep breath. It was incredible. I felt honored just to be in the room.
As Brian and I sat together, a large group of teenagers came through. Someone came in, said something in German and the students all quickly left. We thought it was their teacher or tour guide. We continued to pray and then heard a door shut. We were slightly concerned, but decided to enjoy the quiet. Then, the lights shut off.
We finished our rosary and walked back to the door. It was closed. And barricaded.
The door was ancient. There wasn’t a lock. Instead there was a system of bars and slides. One bar was angled against the wall perpendicular to the door. We tried knocking, but the door was massive. I don’t think they could hear us. Beautiful music began to play.
I began to panic. What if we were locked in until tomorrow? I mean, there are worse places to be locked inside, but would we get in trouble?
I began to study the bars and slides. Carefully, I slid something up along the perpendicular wall and the bar across the door swung down. We cracked open the door and loud music poured in. A security guard was in the chapel on the other side of the altar, about 60 feet away. He looked equally bewildered and stern. What was happening?
Suddenly, a beautiful couple came down the aisle with a sweet infant in a baptism gown. The gown had a train that stretched behind the couple and all eyes were on them. We snuck out the crack and hugged the wall, Mission-Impossible-style. We escaped outside and fell into laughter. What on earth had just happened?!
We knew this would be our last truly free evening to wander and there were still two things on our list that we really wanted to see :
Caravaggio paintings at St. Louis of France
Saint Agnes
We wandered back to the Piazza Navona and thankfully they were both open! Brian’s paternal grandmother’s name is Agnes and I know he had really been hoping to go, but it had been closed every time we passed by. I was so glad for him! He showed me around and I began to learn the story of Saint Agnes, another young martyr. There are so many dear friends of Christ who gave their lives for Him. I just want to learn about them all!
We ate a lovely dinner right there in the Piazza, kept company by street performers and a cool breeze.
Seeing St. Paul Outside the Walls was something I’d been looking forward to for years. When my father returned from Rome with Julia, Brian, and Nate, this was the place he spoke of over and over. Seeing the chains of St. Paul in person changed his life.
We arrived very early in the morning and it was so quiet. The sun was coming up over the Basilica and light was spilling through the pillars inside. I walked up towards the altar and there they were – the chains of St. Paul. I just stood there quietly, listening to the gentle choir singing.
We descended down the stairs to reliquary to see the chains. How do you describe looking at the chains that you grew up singing about? I could have stood there all day just being near to the history of someone who knew Our Lord.
We entered chapel to the left of the altar where the cross of Bridget of Sweden is kept. There were a handful of people praying in the chapel. I wondered if they were also asking Our Father if the cross would come to life for them. Can you imagine?
As we left, there was a stunning refugee sculpture. I wish I had words to put to my thoughts on refugees. Our Lord was a refugee and the Gospel of Matthew discusses how He will separate the sheep and the goats someday. I don’t need to add my clumsy words to His plain instructions on how to care for others.
I ate a delicious nutella croissant and watched as people drank their coffee out of cups at the counter. They smiled and spoke to one another as they had their morning coffee. They didn’t wait in a long line, looking down at their phones, only to rush out the door with a plastic or paper cup. This felt right to me.
Following my dearest Brian, I held rosaries in my hand that had been blessed by a priest at the bottom of the stairs. What I thought would bring pain brought sweet joy. For many years, my knees have been a source of great pain. A few years ago, I had a traumatic meniscus tear and my knee has had much pain and swelling since then. Being able to ascend the stairs that Christ walked up when He was sentenced by Pontius Pilate was the greatest honor of my life to date.
Sancta Sanctorum (Holy of Holies)
At the top of the stairs is a small, peaceful, enclosed chapel that you enter from the side. There, framed in the chapel, was a piece of the chair Christ sat in at the Last Supper. This chapel is called the ‘Holy of Holies’. It contains the Acheropita (Image of the Most Holy Savior) that is “not painted by human hand”
Saint John Lateran
The most amazing sculptures surrounded the room! Each apostle was sculpted with a representation of how they were martyred. I was especially taken with Saint Bartholomew.
Hidden in the back left chapel is a piece of the table of the Last Supper.
Note: Every amazing relic on this trip is special thanks to The Catholic Traveler. His website is amazing and he is so generous with his information.
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