Vocations

Sister Maria del Fiat Miola was studying abroad in Italy during her junior year at Columbia University when she encountered a group of women at St. Peter’s Square who would change her life.

The Sept. 19-21 reunion, sponsored by Mega Millions winner Bernadette Gietka, was the first time many of the graduates had seen each other in decades, and brought back memories of their long-closed school.

Wearing hooded grey robes cinched at the waist with ropes, nearly a dozen Franciscan Friars of the Renewal marched through the streets of downtown Baltimore Aug. 9 carrying a large crucifix, an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a papal flag.