Little Church on the Sacred Oak

On the side of an old cottage at the IACA seat at Rocca Sant'Angelo of Assisi, rises a majestic centuries-old oak tree that plunges its roots in the rock. Some time ago Marcello Ciai conceived the dream to realize there, for the glory of God and for the good of many souls, a small church on top of it, set among the branches of that mighty oak, three as the Holy Trinity. A friend and collaborator very attached to him, has gone along with this desire by designing in his heart and realizing with his own hands a surprising work: the "Little Church on the Sacred Oak". Marcello remained surprised in observing him shaping stones or wood, not as a simple mason or carpenter, but following the inspiration with which a sculptor or a painter progressively bring to completion their works of art.

One arrives to this little church through a stairway leading up along the slope, and then with a wooden stair that rises to the little church, passing through a platform that acts as a "parvis". The stairway has been called "Jacob's Ladder", because that patriarch of Israel saw in a dream a ladder from earth to heaven, on which angels were ascending and descending (Genesis 28: 10-15).

The Little Church on the Sacred Oak has been realized without driving a single nail in the majestic tree: the oak is now happy to hold amongst its branches this little church, as a mother holds in her arms her little child. Marcello's dream has miraculously come true in a real masterpiece, as it was defined by Father Alberto, the Franciscan priest who assists Marcello and his community.
A mystical place from where many prayers will rise to heaven, so that many blessings may descend from heaven.