Scuola Leonardo Da Vinci a Firenze

Duomo, Florence.

Dear Friends and Family,

My first week of Italian classes in downtown Florence went well. It was a bit like trying to drink from a fire-hose, but that's to be expected. Thank you for all of your prayers!

The above photo is Florence's Cathedral (called the Duomo), which I walk by every morning on my way to class. My mornings begin as follows: 4:45 rise and prepare for Mass, 5:40 Mass, 6:50 leave the house with the family as they take the children to school. After praying some of the rosary with them in the car, they drop me off at the train station.

7:15 - 7:50 train ride into Florence (studying or prayer on the train). Once in downtown Florence, it is a 15-minute walk to my school. Depending on the day I then have time for prayer, homework, or cappuccino (or all of the above) before class begins. 9:00 - 12:15 classes and then other activities in Florence, or studies, or prayer, or a train ride back to the countryside, where further studies, apostolate, prayer, etc. awaits.

I was pleasantly surprised by how helpful the classes were this first week. The student to teach ratio was very good: 8 students to one teacher and the hours in the class were quite helpful, as was the homework, for helping me learn new vocabulary and grammar. I have a lot of work to do on my verb conjugations and when certain tenses go with others in the same sentence. For example, when the conditional is used in the main clause then the simple subjunctive or past subjunctive is used, but when the main clause is a past-tense calling for the subjunctive, then it is the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive that is needed, etc. etc.

You may wonder who were my classmates: a nun from Korea, also preparing for canon law studies in Rome; two young Venezuelans (seeking a better life than that offered currently in Venezuela); a lady from Austria coming for just one week of class; two young men from Nazareth, considering studying medicine in Italy; a young man from Turkey, considering studying medicine in Italy.

But Italian is also studied in my host family through daily life. The family is quite patient and willing to correct me, so I have good grounds to hope that by the end of the summer I will be fluent, even if with an American accent and a good deal of vocabulary still to learn.

There are also plenty of souls to help. Please pray in particular for two souls far away from the Church and who probably do not have that long to live, whom I hope to help find God's grace again. Then there are the children and the Sunday sermons to prepare (a good exercise in Italian!). For example, this Wednesday I will be visiting a family's home to speak to their children--some teenagers, some younger. These conversations should be much easier 2-3 months from now, but souls are in need now and it's a good exercise for my Italian. We shall see...

You all are in my daily prayers here. May Jesus be your strength and wisdom, and Our Lady watch over you as your good mother.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari