Fatima Lourdes Rome Pilgrimage

Board your overnight flights to Lisbon, Portugal. Dinner and breakfast are served on board.

Upon our arrival in Lisbon, we will meet our tour guide and enjoy a panoramic tour of the city, including a visit to Saint Anthony’s Church.  Recognized as a Doctor of the Church and the patron saint of sailors, priests, and travelers, he is also known for helping with lost objects.  Although commonly referred to as Saint Anthony of Padua, he was originally from Lisbon, Portugal, and died in Padua, Italy. We will celebrate Mass at the church that stands on the site of his birth and will have time to explore the small gift shop and attached museum.  Dinner and overnight stay will be in Lisbon.

Travel to the town of Santarém, one of the oldest cities in Portugal, where you will attend Mass and visit the Church of St. Stephen, which is home to the oldest recorded Eucharistic Miracle.  Stolen by a woman as payment to a sorcerer, the Host began to emit a brilliant beam of light and then started to bleed.  Reverently returned to the Church of St. Stephen, this miracle has been displayed since 1269.  Many saints and royalty have venerated the miraculous host of Santarém, including Queen St. Elizabeth of Portugal, who visited it twice.  St. Francis Xavier, SJ also traveled to Santarém on a pilgrimage before embarking on his great missionary journey to India. 

In the afternoon, travel to Fatima, where the Blessed Mother appeared in 1917 to three humble shepherd children and encouraged humanity to pray for world peace.  Tonight, you may participate in a candlelight procession.  Dinner and overnight in Fatima.

Six times, from May 13 to October 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three novices belonging to the diocese of Leiria. See the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary which was constructed in 1928 and contains Francesco and Jacinta’s graves, and celebrate Mass at the Little Chapel of the Apparitions. Visit the Hamlet of Aljustrel, where the children lived, and Valinhos, the site of Our Lady’s appearance after the children’s return from prison. Follow the Stations of the Cross along the Via Sacra (The Sacred Way) culminating in the Chapel of Calvary, which overlooks all of Fatima. Dinner and overnight in Fatima.

Depart to Avila with two stops along the way: the first in Coimbra to visit the Carmelite Convent, the final earthly home of Sr. Lucia, the third visionary.  In 2022, she was recognized as Venerable Lucia de Jesus.  In Coimbra, we will proceed to the Convent of Santa Clara, a Poor Clares Monastery, to see the silver coffin that contains the incorrupt body of Queen St. Elizabeth of Portugal.  

On the way to Avila, we make another stop in Alba de Tormes, where St. Teresa of Avila, OCD, is buried.  We will visit the museum dedicated to St. Teresa of Ãvila, which also holds her incorrupt heart and left arm. 

Arrive at Avila in time for dinner and overnight.

St. Teresa of Avila, Carmelite nun, reformer and great mystic, was the first woman to be named a Doctor of the Church. In Avila, visit the Cathedral, which contains many of St. Teresa’s relics, and the crypt of the Convento of La Santa, which is built on the site of the house where she was born and is home to the most comprehensive museum dedicated to her life. Also visit La Encarnacion Convent, the first convent she founded. Teresa’s coffin was recently opened and her body was found to be incorrupt.  In the afternoon, travel to Burgos, the historic capital of Old Castile. Dinner and overnight in Burgos.

Mass at the Santa Maria Cathedral. Leave Burgos, heading to Lourdes. En route stop in Loyola, the birthplace of St Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits. See the 17th Century Basilica dedicated to St Ignatius and visit his family home which contains the place referred to as the Room of the Conversion. Later, travel through the Pyrenees Mountains into Lourdes, the birthplace of St Bernadette, and where Our Lady appeared in 1858 near the Grotto of Massabielle. After dinner, enjoy a candlelight procession. Overnight in Lourdes

See a video presentation telling the story of Lourdes and enjoy a guided tour of Lourdes which will include the sanctuary; the Grotto, where Our Lady appeared under the title of the Immaculate Conception; the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, the Basilica of St Pius X, the world’s largest underground church; Boly Mill where St Bernadette was born and the “Cachot,” an abandoned prison where Bernadette’s impoverished family lived; and the baths where hundreds of miraculous cures have taken place. Dinner and overnight in Lourdes.

Travel by flight(s) to Rome. Upon arrival, your tour guide will warmly greet you this morning and welcome you to Italy. Transfer to your hotel and enjoy a free afternoon for rest, relaxation, or exploration. Your tour guide can suggest sights or walks for you to enjoy. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

This morning the group will go to Vatican City to attend the weekly Papal Audience and Blessing given by His Holiness Francis I. Following the audience, if available, visit the Vatican Museums, a group of the most impressive edifices with hundreds of galleries filled with art treasures. See awe-inspiring relics and works of art donated throughout centuries as tributes of faith. Through the tour, you will cover The Tapestry Gallery, The Raphael Rooms, and the most overwhelming Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo’s Masterpiece, the restored mural of the Last Judgment. Later, enter the largest church in Christendom St Peter’s Basilica, built on the site where St Peter was martyred. Unsurpassed in beauty, a monument to the long history of the Catholic Church, to which pilgrims come from around the world, St Peter’s is the grandest of the world’s churches.  Marvel at The Pieta and Bernini’s amazing bronze canopy. Before dinner, you will have time at leisure, to explore your own paths, shop, or sit in one of the outside cafes and watch the world go by.

This morning depart for a sightseeing tour of a lifetime! Although, our focus is on “Catholic Rome” you will also see many important cultural and monumental sights around Rome. The tour includes three major Basilicas: Saint Mary Major, one of the oldest shrines dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and a shrine that contains a relic from the manger of the infant Jesus. The Basilica of St John in Lateran is the former residence of the popes before their return to Rome in 1377.  The Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls houses the remains of St. Paul under its main altar. Also, you will visit the ancient Baths of Caracalla, Arch of Drusus, Chapel “O’Domine Quo Vadis?” the remains of imperial tombs, the Tomb of Ceacilia Metella, and the catacombs of St Callixtus where the early Christians hid themselves to escape persecution. Dinner and overnight for your last evening in Rome.

In the early morning, we say goodbyes and leave for Rome Airport.