Italian Monastery Seeks Salvation in Beer After Devastating Quake

NORCIA, Italy — The Rev. Cassian Folsom was preparing to celebrate morning Mass one recent Sunday when suddenly the earth started trembling. “Stones and roof tiles started raining down on our heads,” he recalled. “It was a terrifying experience.” When the dust settled, he and the other monks — almost all of them transplanted from the United States — found their beloved Basilica of St. Benedict, built centuries ago in Norcia in the central Italian mountains to mark its namesake’s birthplace, in ruins. -- More...