113. Earlston-Cappella Maggiore Twinning

By now, those who have followed my blog entries in the past have probably noticed that I don’t belong to just one parish but three and that I don’t have one Parish Priest, but two, who naturally are the same for all the three parishes. As fate would have it, they also have the same name, Mario. The Fr. Mario that readers of this blog know is the one at the horse racing tracks in my blog No. “103. Love Thy Neighbour- Never Like This Before”. On Sunday 12th October there was a special mass said for the 28 Delegates from Earlston in Scotland who were here on their annual twinning visit with Cappella Maggiore. As there was a write up of their visit by the local newspaper which covered all the events the Scottish Delegation participated in, I thought I’d mention this event too since it was left out everywhere else.

The other Fr Mario (not the one whose picture I published at the racing track), wanted to say a few words of welcome to them in English and then would I translate simultaneously the rest of the sermon. I didn’t say no, I just warned him, given my “advanced” age, my brain was not as agile as it used to be. “For that matter, “ he replied, “neither is mine.” So I took a chance and introduced myself to the delegates and asked if anyone would do the two readings from the bible- in English of course.

This church, is also familiar to my blog and web readers. This is the church seen in blog No. 98. “Corpus Christi: You Won’t See This in China” and on my web, “Places, Parades and Processions” page, described as the church without a name gives the reason why.

The Delegates were spread out throughout the small church among the local parishioners and apart from some of the males wearing their tartan skirts I couldn’t tell at first sight who was who.

The celebration went off at a good start, and the head of the Delegates the Mayor of Earlston took the first reading followed by a lady delegate member. The choir, tucked away in a niche at the side of the altar and being composed by the youth of the parish sang modern hymns amongst which “Amazing Grace”. Fr Mario also did his bit and welcomed everyone in English leaving his normal parishioners dumbstruck at hearing their P.P. speak in foreign tongues. At the end of the service the Mayor of Earlston stood up and clapped his hands.

Outside, it was time for greetings with the locals and the group photograph on the steps of the church without a name and to a well deserved Sunday Lunch, no doubt, traditionally Italian.