This Fatima Lourdes Rome Pilgrimage Tour combines the most popular Marian Shrines of Fatima and Lourdes with some important Shrines of Spain and a visit to Rome and the Holy See. Beginning in Lisbon, you will have Mass and visit the Church where St. Anthony of Padua, is buried. In Santarem, you will visit St. Stephen’s Church where the Eucharistic Miracle has been on display since it occurred in 1269. In Fatima, where the Virgin Mary appeared to three children in 1917, you will celebrate Mass and pray the rosary at the Little Chapel of the Apparitions. It is here in Fatima that Our Lady implored Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia to pray for world peace, and promised that her Immaculate Heart will triumph. Visit the childhood homes and the tombs of the Fatima visionaries, and join pilgrims from all nations in the nightly processions. As you travel through Spain on this Fatima Lourdes Rome Pilgrimage Tour, you will visit important places in the lives of St. Ignatius and St. Teresa, including Loyola, Avila, and Alba de Tormes. In the great healing center of Lourdes, you will have ample time to pray at the grotto where Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette and to immerse yourself in the Miraculous Water. You’ll visit the many important sights related to St. Bernadette and her family including the Boly Mill and the Cachot, and you’ll join pilgrims from around the world in prayer for physical and spiritual healing during the nightly Candlelight Processions. In Rome, you will visit the magnificent St. Peter’s Basilica, built over the remains of St. Peter. You will see the Vatican or Holy See. During the Fatima Lourdes Rome Pilgrimage Tour, you will also visit the Vatican Museum, the repository of awe-inspiring works of art by some of the world’s most renowned artists. Gazing upon Michelangelo’s extraordinary ceiling and contemplating his masterpiece, The Last Judgement, in the Sistine Chapel is truly the highlight. While in Rome you will also visit the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the largest church in the world dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, built above the tomb of St. Paul. If the Pope is in residence, you will join him for an audience in St. Peter’s Square. Why don’t you go ahead and book the Fatima Lourdes Rome Pilgrimage Tour now for 2023 or 2024?
Upon arrival in Lisbon, we will meet our local tour escort and enjoy a panoramic tour of Lisbon, beginning with a visit to Saint Anthony’s Church (the patron saint of lost objects.) Although we know him as Saint Anthony of Padua, Anthony was originally from Lisbon, Portugal, not Padua, Italy. We will celebrate Mass at the Church which stands on the site of his birth and have time to visit the small gift shop and museum attached. Dinner and Overnight in Lisbon.
Drive to the town of Santarem, one of the oldest cities in the world, where you will have Mass and visit the Church of St Stephen, which contains the oldest recorded Eucharistic Miracle. Stolen by a woman in payment to a sorcerer, the Host began to emit a brilliant beam of light and then bleed. Reverently returned to the church of St Stephen, this miracle has been on continuous display since 1269. In the afternoon, you drive to nearby Fatima, the place where the Blessed Mother appeared in 1917 to three simple shepherd children and exhorted mankind to pray for world peace. Tonight you may participate in a candlelight procession. Dinner and overnight in Fatima.
May 13 to October 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three novices belonging to the diocese of Leiria. See the basilica that 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 making 2 stops en route; the first in Coimbra, to visit the Carmelite Convent the last earthly home of Sr. Lucia, the third visionary. Continue to the Convent of the Poor Clare’s to see the Silver coffin that holds the incorrupt body of St. Elizabeth of Portugal. On the way to Avila, we make another stop in Alba de Tormes, where St. Teresa of Avila is buried. Arrive at Avila in time for dinner and overnight.
St. Teresa, the 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. In the afternoon, travel to Burgos, the historic capital of Old Castile. Dinner and overnight in Burgos.
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 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 escort 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 escort 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 visit to 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 some time at leisure, to explore your own paths, to shop, or just to 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 “Christian Rome” also you will see many important cultural and monumental sights around Rome. The tour includes three major Basilicas: St 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 prior to their return to Rome in 1377. St Paul Outside the Walls, which 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 Celilia 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.
