Post-Jubilee Pilgrimage “The Barcelona of St. Ignatius” 2023
Pilgrimage 2023 to Montserrat/Man esa, Lourdes, Lisieux, and Tours
The Ignatian year began on May 20, 2021 (500th Anniversary of the day he was injured) and concluded on July 31, 2022 (his Feast Day). St. Ignatius of Loyola (1:41) once said, “Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him, and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly.” It is this sense of complete and unconditional abandonment of himself to wholeheartedly serve God through serving the poor that is at the core of St. Ignatius’ life journey. Looking to grow in faith and reach a deeper connection with Ignatius’ life and spirituality, our group intends to walk in the footsteps of St. Ignatius, delve into St. Ignatius’ lived experiences through exploration of historical sites where he walked, accompanied the poor, and prayed.
The Ignatian part of our pilgrimage is intended to give us not only the chance to reflect on where Ignatius was, but also to encounter people who embody and know about Ignatius’ spiritual exercises.
Our group will reflect on what Ignatius called the ‘discernment of spirits’ where we try to be attentive to the graces and challenges presented to us each day and our desire to make a firmer commitment to following God and Christ more closely as Ignatius did. It is fitting that we finish our journey in Paris, where Ignatius spent 10 years studying philosophy and theology at the University of Paris.
Here Ignatius shared his Spiritual Exercises with his fellow students and companions, among whom were his roommates Francis Xavier and Peter Favre. In 1534, in a small church at Montmartre near Paris, they joined Ignatius and five other companions in consecrating their lives to service in the Church by personal vows. Thus was formed the initial brotherhood that would become the Society of Jesus.
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Interested? Call and schedule an informational meeting to answer your questions. Contact Greg Niehaus at 541-5560 (W) or 598-8880 (H)
Itinerary & Videos
Day 1 (Tuesday, June 6): Fly overnight to Barcelona, Spain.
Day 2 (Wednesday, June 7): Barcelona – We meet our Tour Director at the airport in Barcelona and have a welcome dinner featuring regional wines.
Day 3 (Thursday, June 8): Barcelona (1:39 … 18:05) We will take an expert led tour of Barcelona (0:24 … 6:20) including La Sagrada Familia (Gaudi’s masterwork-in progress), Montjuïc (where the 1992 Olympic Games took place), etc. Then we will take a walking tour of Barcelona as we explore other Ignatian sites with our guide.
Day 4 (Friday, June 9): Barcelona – Montserrat (18:05 – 20:18) Today we visit Montserrat (1:21). Once he recovered, Ignatius set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to connect more deeply to Jesus in the very places where he lived, as many Catholics still do. He is said to have experienced a vision of Mary encouraging him to pilgrimage. During his pilgrimage, he shed his material items in various stops in Spain, he relinquished his sword and dagger at the Montserrat Monastery and lived in Manresa as a beggar for about a year, praying seven hours per day.
Our visit to Montserrat, meaning “serrated mountains,” may include meeting with a Benedictine monk from the monastery that has been on the mountain since the 9th century. Enjoy a morning walk followed by prayer in the Basilica. Explore this sacred site and see the “Black Madonna,” a place of pilgrimage for centuries. Then, following the morning program in Montserrat, we will take a short drive to Manresa. We may possibly have the mini retreat room booked followed by a tour of the House of Spiritual Exercises.
The journey (15 miles) from Montserrat to Manresa may give us an opportunity to spend time in silence, reflecting on what we wish to leave behind and what we wish to look forward to as we move into the future, just as Ignatius pondered on his journey. With a local guide, we will tour the cave in which St. Ignatius spent a lot of time praying and reading in solitude, during the year he spent in Manresa(1:28). It was during this time that the seeds of inspiration for writing his Spiritual Exercises were planted. Lunch in Manresa is included.
We continue our journey to the principality of Andorra (2:04) where we will spend the evening. After settling in our hotel, we will gather for an included dinner in Andorra La Vella.
Day 5 (Saturday, June 10): We will make our way over the Pyrenees to Lourdes (2:12). We will arrive in Lourdes (2:52) and spend a free afternoon getting to know the city. Then, in the evening, we will attend the Marian Procession which has occurred every night since 1872, ending at a Mass in the Grotto of the Apparition.
Day 6 (Sunday, June 11): We will set off on a sightseeing tour of Lourdes (1:49), France’s most sacred Christian pilgrimage site including the houses of Bernadette, Sanctuary (2) of Our Lady of Lourdes (the Rosary Basilica and Grotto of Massabielle), and Basilica of Saint Pius X. Then we transfer to the city of Bordeaux where, after an included dinner, we will spend the evening.
Day 7 (Monday, June 12): We will meet up with a guide for a tour of Bordeaux (2:00 … 8:48). In the afternoon we’ll board a high-speed TGV train to Paris where we will ride the funicular to the top of Montmartre (1:07). It is there that, on the morning of August 15, 1534, Ignatius of Loyola and his companions took vows at St. Pierre de Montmartre. The mountain top is dominated by the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (Sacre Coeur).
Day 8 (Tuesday, June 13): A guided tour introduces us to “the City of Light” and the architecture, scenery, and history of its many sites: Place de la Concorde, Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe, Les Invalides, and Eiffel Tower. We will catch a glimpse of Notre-Dame Cathedral. Later we will have time to see more of Paris (2:34 … 24:24).
In 1528, Ignatius of Loyola arrived in Paris, alone and on foot, to begin the midlife university studies that helped him shape the plan for the new Society of Jesus that he submitted to the pope in 1539. Ignatius’ experiences in Paris are documented as that of a “fool for Christ” who at one point had to beg for subsistence, but who “intended to prove that economic realities were not the only indicators of whether to honor or belittle a man.” He studied at the College de Montaigu and then at the age of 43 obtained a master’s degree from the University of Paris.
We will stop at Sorbonne University built over the old Sorbonne, then called the University of Paris where, beginning at the age of 38, Ignatius of Loyola studied, met and roomed with Francis Xavier and Peter Faber. At the age of 44, presumed to be too old and sick, he was turned down for doctoral studies. Next, we will visit the Church of Etienne du Mont, containing the Shrine of St. Genevieve. Ignatius studied here at St. Barbe.
In the afternoon we head to the world’s largest art museum, the Louvre. Later, we will enjoy a free evening or add an excursion dinner in Paris and a Seine River Cruise.
Day 9 (Wednesday, June 14): We travel by train to the sacred town of Lisieux (4:40 … 28:28), home to the Carmelite monastery where St. Therese spent her life. We will meet up with a local guide for a tour of what is considered France’s second most important pilgrimage site. We will enter the Buissonnets (the childhood home of Therese Martin), wander the Basilica of Sainte-Therese, walk down to Ermitage Sainte-Therese, and visit the Carmel of Lisieux.
The impact of The Story of a Soul, a collection of her autobiographical manuscripts, printed and distributed a year after her death to an initially very limited audience, was quite significant. Therese was beatified in 1923, and canonized in 1925, by Pope Pius XI only 28 years after her death. She rapidly became one of the most popular saints of the 20 th century. Therese of Lisieux is the patron saint of aviators, florists, illness(es) and missions. By the Apostolic Letter Divini Amoris Scientia (The Science of Divine Love), Pope John Paul II declared her the 33rd Doctor of the Church, the youngest person, and one of only four women so named.
We transfer back to Paris via train, then sit down for an included dinner.
Day 10 (Thursday, June 15): (a) a free day in Paris, or (b) a day in Tours (3:42).
Day 11 (Friday, June 16): We transfer to the airport and depart for home.
