Pilgrimage to Catholic shrines in Portugal, Spain, France & Italy

Fatima Avila Lourdes Rome Assisi & Medjugorje

The most famous Catholic destinations in Italy like Rome, Assisi, and Loreto. The journey across Europe will start with Portugal and Fatima, Our Lady of Rosary. We will then continue with St. Teresa in the medieval city of Avila! After Avila, the pilgrimage goes on, Lourdes, and prayers with Our Lady of Immaculate Conception!

The second part of our journey across Europe will take us to Italy, Croatia, and Medjugorje. General Audience with Pope Francis and a Christian tour of Rome will be the highlight of the Italy Pilgrimage! Our last few days in Medjugorje are a spiritual “frosting on the cake.” “Therefore, my dear little children, pray, pray, pray….” invitation from Our Lady Queen of Peace has already inspired millions of pilgrims! No doubt it inspired you already if you are considering this pilgrimage tour!

God bless!

MARIAN SHRINES TOUR & ROME Fatima – Avila – Lourdes – Rome – Assisi – Medjugorje 15 DAYS PILGRIMAGE TOUR THROUGH CATHOLIC EUROPE

Day 1 – DEPARTURE FOR PORTUGAL

Our journey starts with a flight to Portugal, the city of Lisbon. Meals are served on board the plane.

Day 2 – LISBON – Welcome City Tour

Upon arrival in Lisbon, you will meet with your tour escort. The same day after we checked in to our hotel followed the Lisbon city tour. Our afternoon city tour of Lisbon will start with a visit to the church of St. Anthony of Padua, which is built on the place of his birth, the patron saint of Portugal. The Lisbon tour will also take us to the Cathedral, the Belem Tower, and the Gothic Monastery of St. Jeronimo (no entrance). The first night of our tour will be in Lisbon. The dinner and overnight at our hotel!

Day 3 LISBON – FATIMA – ALJUSTREL – VALINHOS

This morning we are on our way to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima. Visit places connected with the apparition in Fatima, the tiny village Aljustrel, home of visionaries, and the pasturage at Valinhos, where Our Lady of Fatima also appeared. We will visit the Cova da Iria, the actual place of the apparition where Our Lady of Fatima gave a message to the world through Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia. Holy Mass will be celebrated in one of the churches we will visit or in one of the chapels in the Shrine. In the evening, we will participate in the prayer service (optional). Dinner and overnight in Fatima.

Day 4 FATIMA – AVILA

Depart Fatima early this morning to travel eastward across Spain to Avila. We will walk the city’s narrow cobblestone streets as we trace the life of St. Teresa of Avila. We will see the garden where she played as a child and visit the museum dedicated to her life. The museum also contains relics of St. Teresa and her spiritual advisor St. John of the Cross. We’ll also have the opportunity to visit the Convent of the Incarnation, where St. Teresa first took her orders and would remain for more than thirty years. The museum has an interesting drawing of the crucifixion by St. John of the Cross and a reconstruction of the cell used by the saint when she was prioress there. Dinner and overnight at our hotel in Avila.

Day 5 AVILA – LOURDES

After breakfast & Holy Mass in Avila, we will depart the fort for LOURDES. Upon arrival to Lourdes, we will check into a hotel, free time until dinner. In the evening, after dinner, walk to the Shrine of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception and the prayer of the Rosary during the candlelight procession (provided we are on time in Lourdes). First night in Lourdes.

Day 6 LOURDES SHRINE

On our first morning in Lourdes, Holy Mass, we are off to visit the Shrine, the Grotto of Massabielle, where the Blessed Virgin appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. The tour will also include The Baths, The Basilica of Immaculate Conception with Crypt, which is underneath and was the first chapel built here as a place of worship, also Rosary Basilica, Church of St. Bernadette. The visit will then continue with the town of Lourdes, the visit to all the places associated with St. Bernadette. The Bolly Mill in Rue Bernadette Soubirous, where the saint was born on January 7, 1844, spent the first years of her life. The group will also visit “Cachot,” or the jail where Bernadette lived with her family in great poverty during the apparitions. Return to the Sanctuary area for lunch on your own. Free afternoon until dinner, and in the evening you can participate Candlelight Marian Procession starting each day at 9:00 pm. Dinner and overnight in Lourdes.

Day 7 LOURDES

Today after breakfast, we will attend Holy Mass, and then the rest of the day will be free for your devotions, visit the Baths, shopping, lunch… In the evening, we will attend the Candlelight Procession to Our Lady! Back to the hotel, dinner, and overnight!

Day 8 LOURDES – ROME

Today we will leave Lourdes and France. Flight to Rome. Upon arrival in Rome, time permitting, we will take a panoramic city tour by bus before we check in to the hotel. Dinner and our first night in Rome.

Day 9 ROME – VATICAN GENERAL AUDIENCE (Wednesday)

Today we have an early breakfast to be on time for the general audience with Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Square. After the audience, we will head for a lunch break and then, later in the afternoon, visit the heart of Vatican State, St. Peter’s Basilica, and underground burial stones with the tomb of St. Peter and Saint John Paul II. The day will end with a visit to the first church dedicated to Mary, Mother of God – St. Mary Major! At the end of the day, we are back in our hotel.

Audience with His Holiness Pope Francis isn’t scheduled if he isn’t in the Vatican. During the month of August, His Holiness isn’t in Rome and General Audience isn’t scheduled.

Day 10 ROME – CHRISTIAN ROME TOUR – ASSISI

Today we will continue our Christian tour of Rome. First to have on our schedule today is a visit Basilica of St. John Lateran. This Cathedral of Rome was a Papal residence from the 5C until the papacy departed to Avignon in France. Today we will also see the nearby Holy Staircase (Scala Sancta) actual stairs that Jesus Christ walked on the day he went to Pilate. At the end of the visits to Rome, we will go to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, and our Christian tour in Rome finishes with a visit to the Domitilla Catacombs. From here, we will leave Rome and head to Assisi – the City of Peace, and tonight we are in our hotel in Assisi!

Day 11 ASSISI

This morning, we will explore and learn about St. Francis and his life. Our guided tour will start at the church of Santa Chiara to see The Cross that spoke to St. Francis and pray his prayer before the same Crucifix. We will learn more about St. Claire, the founder of Poor Claire’s, and see her incorrupt body. We will go down to the “Porziuncola,” one of three restored churches by young Francis that nowadays is embraced by the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels. Free afternoon in Assisi. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 12 ASSISI – MEDJUGORJE (flight Rome – Croatia, Split or Dubrovnik)

Today, the group will leave Assisi and head toward Rome International Airport for a flight to Croatia, Split, or Dubrovnik. Upon arrival to Croatia follows a transfer to Medjugorje. Only a few minutes after we cross the border Croatia – Bosnia & Herzegovina, we are in Medjugorje. Dinner and overnight stay in our hotel in Medjugorje, where we stay for 3 nights.

Day 13, 14 MEDJUGORJE PROGRAM

Upon arrival in Split – transfer to Medjugorje, where the program starts the same morning!

Our Medjugorje pilgrimage will be filled with prayer, daily morning English-speaking Mass, and in the evening at the time of the apparition of Our Lady International mass and prayer of the Rosary. This will be a true spiritual retreat, and your life for a few days will go to the triangle of Podbrdo (Apparition Hill), St. James church, and Krizevac (Cross Mountain).

With thousands of pilgrims from all over the world, you will celebrate daily Mass at St. James church. Visiting Bijakovici village, all six visionaries come from it; you will go up the Apparition Hill, Podbrdo place where Our Lady first appeared. Holy Rosary is prayed during the evening program with Mass; Our Lady repeated many times how important it is to come to Holy Mass, where “we meet Jesus alive.” Messages of Prayer of the Rosary, Holy Mass, and Confession are the center of the evening program in St. James church. According to the three visionaries, they still every day receive the apparition of Our Lady, pray with her, and are blessed by Gospa daily! The apparition takes place at 5:40 pm or 6:40 daylight savings time, and Vicka, Ivan, and Marija are the ones who experience this daily. Mirjana, Jakov, and Ivanka are the three visionaries who don’t have daily apparitions but only once a year. Among other activities, you will have a chance to climb the “Cross mountain,” Krizevac, as Croats call it, and visit the “Blue Cross,” another place of the apparition. Each pilgrim will have time for private devotions, shopping, or simply enjoying prayer time, as the Rosary in the hands of people you see on the streets or in the fields in Medjugorje isn’t a strange thing!

Day 15 – MEDJUGORJE departure

Early morning breakfast and transfer to the airport for flight back home – transfer with the guide as the assistant at the airport – wish you a safe and sound journey home!

TOUR INCLUDES:

• Flights from the USA
• EU flights Lourdes – Rome
• EU flight Rome – Split or Dubrovnik
• Airport taxes – SUBJECT TO CHANGE BY AIRLINE UNTIL TICKETS ARE ISSUED
• 1 night in Lisbon – first-class 4* hotel
• 1 night in Fatima – first-class, 4* Hotel
• 1 night in Avila – first-class, 4* Hotel
• 3 nights in Lourdes – first-class, 4* Hotel
• 2 nights in Rome – first-class, 4* Hotel
• 2 nights in Assisi – first-class, 4* hotel
• 3 nights in Medjugorje – first-class, 4* Hotel
• Breakfast and dinner daily, a glass of wine & water, included
• High-class air-conditioned tourist coach with WIFI
• Escort Fatima – Rome – Medjugorje
• Local English-speaking guides Fatima, Avila, Lourdes, Rome, Assisi, Medjugorje
• Entrance fees according to the itinerary
• Daily Mass in Fatima, Avila, Loyola, Lourdes
• Headsets for guided city tours

NOT INCLUDED:

• Lunch daily
• Tips for guides, escorts, and drivers
• Porterage of luggage, in & out hotels
• Travel Insurance is strongly recommended
• Personal items, visa costs

Rates & Dates – Prices are based on a minimum of 25 people in the group:

April 30 – May 14, 2024: Land and air from Newark EWR, New York JFK……….US$ 3895.00 Single room supplement……..US$ 550.00

June 13 – 27, 2024 – CELEBRATE THE MEDJUGORJE 43rd ANNIVERSARY: Land and air from Newark EWR, New York JFK……….US$ 3945.00 Single room supplement……..US$ 645.00JUNE 2024 – MARIAN SHRINES & ROME TOUR – 16-DAY TOUR – flyer

September 3 – 17, 2024: Land and air from Newark EWR, New York JFK……….US$ 3945.00 Single room supplement……..US$ 590.00

October 15 – 29, 2024: Land and air from Newark EWR, New York JFK……….US$ 3895.00 Single room supplement……..US$ 590.00

IMPORTANT NOTES:

– Prices are a close estimate and are to be confirmed only after tickets are issued in your name.

– The General Audience on Wednesday with His Holiness Pope Francis isn’t a guaranteed event.

FOR GROUP REQUESTS – QUOTE WITHIN 48 HOURS:

– IT IS YOUR PILGRIMAGE – SET YOUR DATE of TRAVEL, and WE WILL CUSTOMIZE IT ACCORDING TO YOUR DESIRES – PILGRIMAGE WITH YOUR PRIEST WHO CELEBRATES PRIVATE HOLY MASS IN LOURDES, FATIMA, VATICAN, ASSISI, AVILA… – BROCHURE & WEBSITE SUPPORT & YOU CAN TRAVEL WITH THE PEOPLE WITH WHOM YOU SHARE THE SAME VALUES & FAITH

To join this tour, please fill in the registration form below!