We very recently found a fragile little notebook of old religious newspaper clippings, notes and writings from our Uncle Francis, Fr. Francis F. Woods. Grandma Woods (Anna, the mother of Francis, Norbert and Helen) wrote inside the notebook that it was written while Francis was attending St. Charles College, near Baltimore, Maryland, in 1925-27. He then went on to study in Rome, Italy, where he was ordained a Priest on September 24, 1932.
It was on our first day in Italy, a Sunday. Dad and Mom, Anne and Chuck, Robert and Mary Davidson, Mary Helen and Mark, and Robert and I had just spent our first night at our beautiful villa on the rocky Mediterranean coast of Amalfi. We drove into the picturesque village of Amalfi, for mass at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew, the patron saint, and for our first shopping excursion. From the top of the grand stairs that leads up to the cathedral from the village square we took in the breathtaking views of the village, the cliffs, and the sea.