Saint Giuliano Collegiate Church

AKS: Today, I went to mass in Saint Giuliano’s Collegiate Church here in our town of Castiglion Fiorentino with a couple other Aggies on our trip. When we arrived, we found out that it was going to be the first communion of a group of Italian children. We had arrived twenty minutes early, but the church was already full with families of the children that would receive their first communion. As the mass began, the children processed in wearing white robes and each carrying one white lily. I was intrigued by the lilies and wondered what they were supposed to symbolize. I remember having a fancy white dress for my but cannot recall if we carried in flowers at my first communion. After a quick search, I learned that the white lily can represent purity. I think it is so special that every child had a lily because the sacrament of first communion is a celebration of the growth of a child into a participating member of the church. The mass was long, loud and full of babies crying, but all in all was a traditional Italian first communion service! I had never experienced a mass like that, but the impression of the while lilies will definitely stay with me. I would love to give every child I know that is celebrating their first communion a single white lily.