On Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 September 2024, the Delegation of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George will meet at the Château Verdun-Regina Pacis Benedictine monastery of Saint-Oyen, Valle d’Aosta, to immerse ourselves in a Christian atmosphere of prayer and meditation. An annual spiritual retreat – for the first time lasting two days – was planned to meditate on the depth of the Mystery of the Cross, to renew personal faith and to get ever closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.
The program of the spiritual retreat, coordinated by the Representative for the City of Aosta, Mirco Ciccarese, Knight of Office, and under the spiritual guidance of Father Damiano Cavallaro, Chaplain of Merit, includes moments of prayer, meditation on the word of God, and Constantinian formation and community sharing.
Saturday 28 September 2024
3.00 pm: Ninth hour
4.00 pm: Eucharistic adoration with Rosary, meditated on the Sorrowful Mysteries, led by Father Fabrizio Balestra, Chaplain of Merit
5.00 pm: Vespers
6.00pm: Free time for reflection
8.45pm: Meditation on the theme of the traditional 8 principles of chivalry, conducted by Luca Distort, Knight of Office
Sunday 29 September 2024
09.30: Meditation led by Father Damiano Cavallaro, Chaplain of Merit
11.30: Holy Mass
Château Verdun, today owned by the Diocese of Aosta, is a fortress built between the 10th and 11th centuries, halfway between Aosta and the Gran San Bernardo pass (Mongiove) at 1350 meters above sea level. In 1137 it was donated by Amedeo III of Savoy to the Canons of the Hospice of the Great Saint Bernard, who used it as a resting place for pilgrims on the Via Francigena and as a farm dependent on the Hospice itself. This mission was faithfully accomplished for nine centuries, that is, until modern times.
Today the Diocese of Aosta continues its work in the spirit of “welcome” that characterizes the Canons of the Great Saint Bernard. The Château Verdun, which has welcomed pilgrims on the Via Francigena for more than a thousand years, continues to offer hospitality to those seeking spiritual and physical refreshment in an atmosphere of fraternal welcome. The layout is therefore not that of a hotel but rather that of a medieval “hospital,” renovated to meet the modern needs of the pilgrim. In this very spiritual place there are spaces such as the chapel, meeting rooms, activity room, restaurant room with home cooking, and an outdoor garden.
Since 2002, part of the farmhouse has been occupied by the cloistered Benedictine nuns of the Regina Pacis Benedictine monastery.
