Anselmo - Return to the Chapel on the Hill

Today we revisited Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, the chapel on the hills at the Anselmo Vineyards.
What an astonishing accomplishment Reverge Anselmo has achieved.  What a blessing to the community and all who visit.

We dined to celebrate Nancy's birthday, and Reverge allowed us to sample his fine Cabernet wine, which is rich, smooth, round and sweet, with a fruity nose. The food is delectable and the chef takes a great personal delight in creating memorable dishes impeccably displayed.

After lunch we walked up through the vineyard to the new sanctuary. immediately one is struck by the completeness of the project which a year ago was having the roof placed on the tower.  Thoughtfully placed Cypress trees add a traditional old world timelessness to our approach of this inspirational setting.

Ascending the tower one can take in the view down across the daintily groomed vines to the ranch buildings set among the oak trees, and out in the distance the snow-capped peaks of Mount Lassen. Beside you are three handsome bells, Bernadette, Simeon and John. The castings are beautiful and the tones that peel out over the valley are perfectly pitched.

The completed sanctuary exquisite with a mosaic of Abraham and the visit from the three angels above the altar, (Genesis 18:2), an iconic recreation of the Rublev's Trinity.

The view out of the huge church doors is of the vineyards and the distant mountains.

We left enriched and uplifted from the experience,

and will surely return!

The First Voice for Our Lady of Seven Sorrows

The First Voice

The first prayer for Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, in the oratory at Seven Hills Ranch, was offered up on November 26th 2011 and took the form of two hymns in plainchant, the Ave Maria, and the Salve Regina. The builders and ranch masters halted as time stopped to memorialize the initial sanctification of the new chapel.




There’s a spot in the Valley of Inwood
That is called The Seven Hills Ranch,
Where the hillsides are high cloaked with vineyards
To which I’d return at the chance.
From a crest looking down on the valley
A sanctuary tower may be seen
Dedicated to Sancta Maria,
Stabat Mater of Heaven the Queen.

I sent up a prayer for Our Lady
For Mary the Mother of God,
I sent up a prayer and the hills were still
Like the builders who stopped where they trod.
And the hymn that I sang was as old as the hills
And it rose to the new chapel’s dome,
Filling the air with a hope and a prayer
In a space that will ever be home.

Never before had a song been sung
Never a voice offered up,
Not since the chapel was first conceived
As the venue to raise host and cup.
And the song was the sanctification
It flew to the beams like a dart
And those who were there will remember the prayer
For Our Lady engraved on their heart.

And the valley of Inwood will blossom
Its hillsides will bloom and be fair,
The wines from its vines will fill up the cup
When communion is taken there.
And bells of Our Lady of Sorrows
Will peel out the Angelus Change,
Across the vineyards and out and away
To all seven hills within range.