Marianne Niesen

Marianne’s interest in Francis and Clare and her love for Assisi was sparked 50 years ago with her first visit to the town. There was still much to unfold in her life but of one thing she was quite certain. She would return to Assisi! And so she did, many times, over the past years. Marianne’s interest in Franciscan spirituality led her to join a religious community and she lived as a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Rochester, Minnesota for 18 years. Later on she would become an ordained Methodist minister and married. Francis and Clare were always close to her heart. She traveled back to live for a month with her husband in Assisi simply to walk every street of this holy town, just breathing in its great spirit. 

Throughout these years, she shared her love for Assisi and for Francis and Clare with her husband and with her church communities. She and Lyle participated in the meditation experiences led by Bruce Davis at the meditation center Assisi 2006. That’s where she became acquainted with Assisi Retreats. 

For Marianne, Assisi has been a sacred and holy place that has beckoned over and over through the years. The stories of Francis and Clare invite a spirit of imagination, wonder, deep appreciation and reverence for all life. Though there is much to see and learn, Assisi is most of all a place to stop and listen to one’s own heart, one’s own deepest longings, one’s own call. It is a place to walk the streets (not necessarily all of them!) and allow them to make a path in our own hearts for the sacred. Over the years, Marianne has described Assisi as a place where she is often ‘surprised by grace.’ Her deep hope is that it can be that kind of a place for others too.