Fran Larson

Don’t You Want To Get Married In The Abbey Just Like Maria In The Sound of Music?


Posted: Tuesday, November 17, 2009

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I remember being mesmerized by the movie, The Sound of Music. Maria, (Julie Andrews) leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to a Naval officer widower. She was afraid to leave the Abbey and go out into the world. Then, the Mother Abbess advises her that the Abbey is not a place to hide from one's problems but a place in which to confront them. She urges Maria to reach out to meet life.

Marie's happy ending came when she married Captain Von Trap in the Nonnberg Abbey. It is the oldest female convent north of the Alps. It was founded in the year 714 and it still exists. How I loved the wedding ceremony in this beautiful Abbey that was portrayed in The Sound of Music.

However, Saint Leo has it's own beautiful Abbey. There are also young women who marry in this Abbey, just like Maria did in The Sound of Music. St. Leo Abbey Benedictine Monks and Retreat Center is at 33601 State Road 52 in Saint Leo. Edmund Francis Dunne founded the Catholic Colony of San Antonio in 1881. (wikipedia.com)

I Saw A Beautiful Abbey Today In St. Leo That Fits Florida Landscape and Is Built with Native Materials

When entering the church, the majestic stone-carved crucifix that weights 22,000 pounds takes one's breath away. Framing the inside of the church are high, round, rose-colored windows that are the creation of Karl Mueller, of Mueller Studios, Zephyrhills.

When I researched The Abbey. (stleoabbey.org) I learned that the materials of which the church was built, as well as the labor, which produced it, are largely native. Principal material is the white brick from limestone, which underlies most of this area of Florida. The interior is richly furbished with red cedar, product of the abbey preserves. The architectural design of Saint Leo Abbey Church has been described as particularly adapted to the Florida landscape. Of Lombardic-Romanesque design, its gleaming white tower and red tile roof dominates the hill-studded lake region of Pasco County. Architect was Frank Parziale, of Tampa, Florida.

After my afternoon of visiting the Abbey, I came home still feeling the beauty of a structure that had been built with love and devotion. I thought to myself, if anyone is contemplating being married, they should think about marrying in the Abbey, like Maria.

Francine Larson:

Co-Author of Character Keys to a Bright Future.

She is a freelance writer

See more articles by Francine Larson at:http://www.examiner.com/modern-love-in-tampa-bay/francine-larson

She also writes for The Highlands at Scotland Yards. She writes poetry and short stories.

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