“If the world takes something from us on the one hand, God will give us something on the other.”
St. Louise de Marillac
The Thrill of a Lifetime
By Sebastian Isaacs, Communications intern
In March, S. Kathryn Ann Connelly joined her close friends, Maria and Mark Ashdown, on a Mediterranean Cruise, where she checked the Rock of Gibraltar off her bucket list and experienced profound spiritual renewal at the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace. Along the way, the trio explored many destinations together, further strengthening their friendship and making the journey even more meaningful.
Maria and S. Kathryn Ann both reveled in telling the story of their first encounter: Three years ago, S. Kathryn Ann was working the Motherhouse front desk while Good Samaritan Hospital was hosting its Catholic Health Assessment in the building. Due to conflicting meetings, Good Samaritan’s Chief Nursing Officer Maria arrived 30 minutes late and met S. Kathryn Ann at the entrance.
S. Kathryn Ann scolded Maria for showing up late to the important meeting, and it was her straightforward, sarcastic personality that Maria fell in love with. When Maria passed S. Kathryn on her way, she stopped to say, “We’ve been talking about you. Would you like to go to dinner?”
“That was the beginning of our friendship,” S. Kathryn Ann recalled, with a smile on her face.
“I think God brings people into our lives for a reason,” Maria continued. “And I know S. Kathryn Ann came into my life for a reason.”
Since that first meeting, S. Kathryn Ann and Maria have further cultivated their friendship through text. “She’s helped me learn,” S. Kathryn Ann laughed, “because the phone and I are not friends … It’s a friendship that I hadn’t anticipated, but it’s been a prize.”
The two also go out to dinner every week, and it was on one of these outings that S. Kathryn Ann first mentioned her desire to see the Rock of Gibraltar. The dream had manifested as a young girl when she learned about its history from a particularly influential geography teacher, and became more prevalent as her interest in World War II grew.
This past January, Maria and her husband invited S. Kathryn Ann to join them on a trip to Gibraltar, a decision Maria described as divinely inspired as they continued to witness S. Kathryn Ann’s enduring “grit and resilience.”
Such a grand gesture came as a shock to S. Kathryn Ann, who never anticipated she would experience such generosity. But, when reflecting on the act of kindness she and her husband shared, Maria said, “I feel like God has blessed me in my life and so many people have helped me along my way, so this really felt like something we should do.”
S. Kathryn Ann shared with Maria that the plan to visit Gibraltar and its series of conjoined manmade and natural caves was one she had hoped to make once before. In 2020, S. Kathryn Ann and her dear friend of 48 years, the late S. Catherine Kirby, planned to take a Mediterranean cruise because, as S. Kathryn Ann said, “we always wanted to see the authentic culture.” However, S. Catherine became ill the day before they were scheduled to leave and passed away before they were able to fulfill the dream.
S. Kathryn Ann explained, “When we got there, the first cave we visited shocked me, because it was a natural cave with stalagmites and stalactites hanging down. They had it lit so that when you looked up, you saw an archangel in these rock formations. The beauty was overwhelming.”
That was the first day of their trip, where S. Kathryn Ann also had the opportunity to hand-feed and hold a monkey on the top of Gibraltar where she said, “A colony of little monkeys walked around like squirrels.”
After such an incredible beginning to their trip, S. Kathryn remarked that she thought, “It was such a gift. You know, when you’re 93, you don’t expect a whole lot. Then all of a sudden, this just came out of the blue!”
As S. Kathryn Ann reflected on achieving an item on her bucket list, the cruise stopped in Southern France, where S. Kathryn Ann visited Marseille and Cassis, then Genoa and Milan in Italy where the group toured multiple churches.
The last, and most influential, destination in S. Kathryn Ann’s trip was Livorno, Italy, where St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was quarantined in the Lazaretto of San Leopoldo while her husband, William Magee Seton, was gravely ill. Isolated in this stone compound with her eldest daughter, Anna Maria, Elizabeth relied on her strong faith in God to carry her through such a dark time. Following William’s death, Elizabeth stayed with the Filicchi family in Livorno, where she first began discerning her conversion to Catholicism.
S. Kathryn Ann, Maria, and Mark were met in Livorno by Lara Bellagotti, a contact of Community historian S. Judith Metz, who took them to tour Montenero. The destination was up a hillside from the city and shipyard of Livorno, which is attributed with a history of miracles dating back to 1345.
S. Kathryn Ann visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace, which she remarked “goes on forever,” with new rooms added over the years whenever miracles were believed to have occurred. Amabilia Filicchi brought Elizabeth Seton to this shrine while she was living with the Filicchi family following her husband’s death. It is believed that is was during these visits with Amabilia that Elizabeth began considering Catholicism.
“I had no idea that it would strike me like it did,” S. Kathryn Ann remembered. “I had my hand on that altar, and I have to say, that was the thrill of my life.”
The feeling of encountering Elizabeth in Montenero reminded S. Kathryn Ann of a moment from her own discernment to vowed life. Following her graduation from Seton High School in Cincinnati in 1950, S. Kathryn Ann and her sister traveled to Europe, where they visited Rome during the Holy Year called by Pope Pius XII, and made a pilgrimage to Lourdes. It was there, she said, that she decided with certainty, “I need to become a Sister of Charity.”
S. Kathryn Ann reflected that Montenero, another holy landmark associated with Our Lady’s intercession, and her memory of that life-changing experience at Lourdes 75 years ago, “made me identify with Elizabeth [Seton] in that way.”
Following their visit to the Shrine, Lara took S. Kathryn Ann, Maria and Mark into the city of Livorno where they encountered St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish, a church that looked “just like all the houses in the neighborhood” to S. Kathryn Ann.
Serving as Pastor Don Gin Franchi’s assistant at the parish, Lara was uniquely qualified to introduce the church to her visitors, who first visited the graves of Antonio Filicchi and William Seton in the courtyard, where they were overlooked by a statue of Elizabeth Seton.
Walking up the ramp to the parish, S. Kathryn Ann paraphrased a sign that shared the message, “As you walk this ramp, you leave the world behind, and by the time you get to the top, you’re ready to go into God’s presence.”
Pondering upon the sign and her experience in Livorno, S. Kathryn Ann said, “I think God’s hand was present to Elizabeth in that little town,” just as He was present in bringing Maria and S. Kathryn Ann to experience these life-changing moments together.
Throughout the course of the cruise, S. Kathryn Ann believes her friendship with Maria has only grown. “I’m very fond of her, you know, we have become such good friends,” she said. This trip, for S. Kathryn Ann, was “just deepening a relationship that I will be eternally grateful for.”
For Maria, watching S. Kathryn Ann reminded her that, “In anything you do, kindness matters.” Seeing the impact this pilgrimage to Livorno and Montenero had on S. Kathryn Ann in particular made Maria wish that “every Sister of Charity could do what we did. It would reinvent and exhilarate them, I’m sure.”
S. Kathryn Ann agreed, “I think it has renewed my whole lease on life. I had a tremendous boost to my vocation. I have to say that it has meant a lot to me, as far as my whole life is concerned.”
S. Kathryn Ann Connelly, Maria Ashdown, and Mark Ashdown’s first stop was Gibraltar, where the group explored the many natural and manmade caves that were used by British combat soldiers during World War II, and encountered a colony of monkeys on top of the landmark.
S. Kathryn Ann Connelly has had the Rock of Gibraltar on the top of her bucket list since fifth grade. Now in her 90s, she was finally able to cross it off.
While visiting Gibraltar, S. Kathryn Ann Connelly saw St. Michael’s Cave, a natural cave illuminated so that its stalactites and stalagmites form the image of an angel.
tunnels
After leaving Gibraltar, the group traveled to Southern France, visiting Cassis and Marseille.
Following their departure from Southern France, S. Kathryn Ann and the Ashdowns traveled through Italy, visiting Tuscany, Genoa, Rome, and Milan, where Mark especially enjoyed the Milan Cathedral.
Among other destinations, the group visited Spain, where they toured the Cathedral of Barcelona.
The trio’s final stop was in Livorno, Italy, where S. Kathryn Ann felt connected to Elizabeth Seton through visits to the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace in Montenero and the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish.
Lara Bellagotti (right) and Pastor Don Gin Franchi (center) introduced S. Kathryn Ann Connelly to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Livorno, dedicated to the American saint’s enduring legacy.
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