Feast of St. Louis IX

Statue of St. Louis
in the courtyard

The weekend was so so. Wasn't really busy though I still had some work to do in the coastal cities. Managed to take advantage of the several hours to rest in our Jaffa monastery ... which meant sleep. I slept through 12 hours or so. I was just so tired from all the work and tension in the Old City of Jerusalem. I didn't want to get up actually. But Saturday was the Feast of St. Louis IX, king of France.

It's a memorial for the rest of the world but in our monastery in Jaffa, it is a feast day with the singing of the Gloria during the Mass. Why? Because St. Louis lived here twice during his 2 visits to the Holy Land. Well not actually visits ... he came to fight in the 7th and 8th Crusade. King Frederick Barbarossa had built the fortress on this site and St Louis repaired it when it was damaged during the war. That's about 1240. Pretty ancient. The remains of the fortress repaired by St. Louis is still existing within the modern monastery building (built in the 17th century and rebuilt several times due to war). It's a tower which today has been converted into a chapel where daily Mass is celebrated.

The chapel in the
Crusader fortress

Well it was very nice to have been there during the Feast and celebrated Mass with the community. And anyway the best thing was I could sleep in peace. I really needed that.

In the evening I want down to the city centre to buy dinner. I noticed there was a new shop opened where once was the Sushi restaurant. Now it's Broaster Chicken. Went in and immediately the guys serving at the counter called out "Hey here comes a friend from Jerusalem". Well those guys are from Jerusalem and somehow they recognised me. I couldn't recognise any of them!!! Anyway we chatted and I ordered and asked for a little more of this and that which they obliged because "we're from Jerusalem". It was a good dinner for a Feastday.