Graces of France

We celebrate an International Mass this morning with pilgrims worldwide in the immense Underground Basilica of Pius X (schedule permitting) followed by a visit to the little village of Bartres, and the farm where St Bernadette was nursed and later returned in adolescence to help her foster mother. We will visit the Sheepfold and the Parish Church where she spent so many hours in prayer.

We will return to Lourdes to enjoy a peaceful afternoon to rest, wander at your own pace or take the time to pray the Stations of the Cross with the life sized copper images which overlook the holy Grotto. Spend some quiet time perhaps reflecting at the Grotto with its chapel built over the place of the apparitions.

Optional Blessed Sacrament Procession and evening candlelight procession.

Lourdes overnight (BD)

This morning we will celebrate a group Mass at the Grotto before meeting our guide for a walking tour of Lourdes including the Sanctuary area: Upper & Lower Basilicas, the Grotto, and the Baths where hundreds of miraculous cures have taken place. Continue our visit of the main sites associated with St Bernadette including the Boly Mill where she was born in 1844, the original parish church and the Cachot (prison) where the family was forced to live due to misfortune during the time of the apparitions.

Free time this afternoon for a visit and prayers for the sick at the miraculous Baths where the water has continued to flow since 1858. Pilgrims may choose to submerge themselves in the healing waters, or collect the Lourdes water at the taps. During her 9^th apparition to Bernadette, Our Lady said “Go drink and wash yourself at the spring”. Optional afternoon Blessed Sacrament Procession and Blessing of the Sick before a final evening candlelight procession after dinner.

Note:  Washing at the baths is a personally rewarding experience and is carried out in a discreet manner with the process being very respectful of one’s privacy. 

Lourdes overnight (BD)

We farewell Lourdes early this morning as we again journey through the Pyrenees, crossing the border back into northern Spain.

We then arrive at stunning Montserrat. The renowned 11^th century sanctuary of Our Lady of Montserrat lies at the top of a 4,000 foot high mountain and is one of Spain’s most popular pilgrimage destinations. The shrine is home to a 12^th century miraculous statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, lovingly known as the “Black Madonna”, discovered in the Santa Cova or Holy Cave. Here at Montserrat, St Ignatius kept vigil with a coarse sackcloth and a pilgrim staff.

On arrival we will be taken on a private guided tour of the museums.

Continue for a visit and Mass in the Basilica, the construction of which began in the 16^th century, and a viewing of the beautiful Holy Image of Our Lady of Montserrat, known affectionately as the “Black Madonna.”  Time permitting, before dinner we will have an opportunity to join the Benedictine monks and the Montserrat Boys Choir (The Escolania) in the Basilica for the beautiful sounds of evening Vespers.

Montserrat overnight (BD)

The spirit of Montserrat is a unique blend of the mountain, the sanctuary, and the life of monasticism. Around the sanctuary you will find many different banners and emblems representing various religious, cultural, social, financial and even sporting organisations.

Those who wish may rise early this morning to enjoy a walk down the sacred path passing modernist sculptures of the Mysteries of the Rosary (all worked on by Llimona and Gaudi among others). Almost hanging from the rock’s edge at the end of the route is the Chapel where the image of Our Lady of Montserrat was found by young shepherds in the 13^th century after seeing a bright light which led them to the grotto.

We then travel out to the town of Manresa for Mass where St Ignatius came on retreat for 11 months between 1522 and 1523. Each day he spent seven hours in prayer in a cave and then helped the sick in the village with the time he had left over. Here too, Ignatius began to develop the method for seeking God’s will and where he wrote his renowned Spiritual Exercises. We come as pilgrims to this amazing place with St Ignatius and pray in the actual cave where his life and spirituality developed.

Continue on to Barcelona where we will embark on a panoramic tour of the city followed by a visit to La Sagrada Familia.

Dinner at the hotel

Barcelona overnight  (BD)

We depart early this morning by air to Lyon.

We continue our French immersion travelling on to Paray-le-Monial, the place where St Margaret Mary Alacoque experienced visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the 17^th century. In revealing His Heart to her, Jesus said:

“Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing but has been poured out totally and consumed as proof of its love”.

Paray-le-Monial overnight (BD)

After a leisurely breakfast, we set off this morning for Taize, the tiny hillside community in which young people from all over the world are drawn. Pope St John Paul II referred to Taize as ‘that little springtime’ as pilgrims join in a common weekly programme of prayer meetings, discussion groups and meals. We join with the community for midday prayer, which is sung beautifully in the large candlelit church.

Return this afternoon to Paray-le-Monial for a guided visit featuring the Chapel of Apparitions, the room of the relics of St Margaret Mary, the Diorama of St Margaret and the Eucharist Museum. Other highlights include the Basilica of Sacre Coeur and the Chapel of St Claude in honour of St Margaret Mary’s Spiritual Director.

Paray-le-Monial overnight (BD)

This morning we farewell the city of the ‘Heart of Jesus’ and journey to the town of Nevers nestled within the picturesque Loire Valley. Here we will celebrate Mass and visit the Convent of St Gildard where St Bernadette’s incorrupt body reposes and may be viewed. After she was blessed with the 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, St Bernadette retired to Nevers where she died at the age of only 35.

Our pilgrimage takes us on to the great Cathedral city of Chartres where we enter inside the magnificent 13^th century Chartres Cathedral, a medieval architectural wonder and home to the Holy Veil, said to be worn by the Blessed Virgin Mary when she gave birth to Jesus. Pilgrims too will see the most famous labyrinth in the world, built around the year 1200 and sometimes called the “Chemin de Jerusalem” or Road of Jerusalem.

Chartres overnight (BD)

Departing Chartres, we journey to the lovely island of Mont-Saint-Michel.

According to legend, the archangel Michael appeared to St. Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, in 709 and instructed him to build a chapel on the rocky islet. Soon after, he sent a group of monks to live on the island (since replaced in 966 by the Benedictine Order who soon after constructed the Abbey). From the Middle Ages people have flocked to the abbey and were so struck by its beauty that they called this place “The Wonder Island”. Today it continues to be a major cultural and pilgrimage centre.

What looks like a castle out of a fairy tale is actually one of Christianity’s major pilgrimage sites. Surging from an infinite expanse of sand and waves, Mont-Saint-Michel is a marvellous work of both nature and mankind. In 1979 it was the first location in France to be designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today more than two million pilgrims and visitors travel to behold this awesome work of the Middle Ages, the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel.

Mont-Saint-Michel overnight (BD)

This morning we will meet our guide for a tour of the island.

A climb up the steep narrow flight of steps called the Grand Degré is a prelude to the tour of the abbey. Once we have admired the construction, we can contemplate the incomparable beauty of the bay by going back down via the rampart walk.

A highlight of our visit here will be the Benedictine Abbey, which during the French Revolution was turned into a prison. We plan to join the community here for an inspiring chanted Mass. During our tour we will also see the Chapelle de Notre Dame sous Terre (Underground Chapel of Our Lady). It was built in the late 10^th century in the very place that St Aubert erected the oratory in the 8^th century.

Enjoy some free time this afternoon.

Mont-Saint-Michel overnight (BD)

After breakfast we travel east to Lisieux, one of the world’s premier pilgrimage sites and home to St Therese, the ‘Little Flower’, whom Pope Pius X called ‘the greatest saint of modern times’. On arrival we enjoy a pilgrimage tour of Lisieux visiting the family home of Les Buissonets, the Carmelite Convent Chapel with its reliquary of the saint and St Therese’s Basilica.

We depart Lisieux, travelling on to Paris this afternoon for homebound flights or onward travels.

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