Saint Lawrence statue found

An American living abroad recently contacted me to say he has located a statue of St. Lawrence for my newly-renovated kitchen. But first I'd like to tell you about a trip to Europe I took with four friends 14 summers ago, after we all graduated from high school.

I don't remember why we ended up in Lugano. I think Mike had been to Switzerland when his father was stationed in Europe, and remembered it was beautiful. It couldn't have been any worse than what we had experienced thus far.

We had slept in a churchyard in Wimbledon, in a grimy industrial area, the second night we were there. Mostly, we had slept on trains and marginal hostels. In Ireland, we stayed at the Kinlay House, where we discovered that the Irish government warehoused homeless drunks in youth hostels. One of them woke up Mike at 2 a.m., asking him if he wanted to share a shot of whiskey. Mike declined.

After leaving Paris, we planned to stay in Rome, but we couldn't find a room because the city was hosting the World Cup, and apparently soccer tournaments are quite popular with Europeans. So we had been traveling for about 24 hours straight without hardly any sleep when we dragged ourselves and our backpacks from the train station to the hostel.

Things were certainly looking better for us. It was a brilliant, sun-soaked day, with mild temperatures and a cool breeze coming from Lago di Lugano. The hostel rooms were sparse but clean, and since we were with about 10 other backpackers in bunk-beds, the place was cheap, too. That day, we all walked to the shopping district, and bought bread and cheese to eat while we strolled. For dinner, we splurged on a restaurant with outdoor seats, where we could eat our pizza, laugh and argue, and revel in being 18 years old.

I remember that a bunch of obnoxious Germans stole 80 marks ($50) from my wallet when I left our common room -- or at least I assume it was them, since nobody else was there.

I remember eating in a Burger King near the lake, and being shocked that a meal cost $10. Just outside the restaurant, I called my parents collect and talked to them for about three minutes. The call cost $37.

I remember Denis and Mike thinking it would be funny to jump out of the little boat we rented, even though it was forbidden. When he saw them swimming, the guy who ran the boat rental place yelled for us to come back. On the way there, the boat's propeller struck a rock and nicked one of the blades. The rental guy called the Swiss police, who calmed him down by having us write our U.S. addresses on a piece of paper, and promising we'd pay for the engine if it was broken. I remember the officers had Glock 9mm pistols in their holsters.

There is one last, luminous memory I have of Lugano. My friend Andy, whom I had known since the fourth grade, wanted to go to daily Mass near the hostel the next morning. I think they were having daily Mass, but I'm not sure. At the time, I was Lutheran, but I was happy to tour any church, particularly during a liturgy. That's what the building was built for, right?

I don't remember the Mass itself or the interior of the church, but I do remember it was one of the string of aesthetic experiences that lead me ultimately into the arms of Holy Mother Church. I have a vivid mental image of the emerald trees shuffling their leaves in the gentle wind, including the palm trees which seemed out of place, and the church's bell tower pointing skyward with its pointed dome, a suitable compliment to the green-carpeted mountains in the distance.

When I started typing this post, I was just going to post the images below of the St. Lawrence statue, and ask everyone your opinion about it. After shipping it to the U.S., this statue will cost about $400. It looks like a high-quality piece, but I wanted to ask people if they thought that was too much to spend. After spending $9,000 modifying our kitchen to accomodate our growing family of five, what's another few hundred dollars?

Then I was looking at the name of the place Jeff said he found the statue: Lugano. It took me a while, but I finally remembered that I had been there before. I wondered what the cathedral, named after St. Lawrence, looks like? Google showed me:

It was the same church, unless there's an identical one in the same town of 52,000. I looked up hostels in Lugano, and found the Hotel Montarina, a few minutes from the train station. A map of Lugano showed that it was close to the cathedral. The interior pictures showed it was the same place where we stayed in 1990.

To summarize: a kind stranger thousands of miles away sees my post on an obscure blog. He checks his cathedral, and sure enough, they have a 12-inch statue of St. Lawrence, the perfect size for the wall niche I'm going to build. That cathedral was one of the beautiful things God showed me as I turned toward his Church. (Incidently, the statue has been there for 12 years, unsold.)

I don't think I need your opinions -- I pretty much have to buy this thing, don't I? I mean, it's not exactly miraculous, but I did pray for guidance about whether to spend the money. If this isn't one of God's small signs, then tell me I'm crazy. Meanwhile, check out the statue: