Martinez Italy Pilgrimage 10 days

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Created: 24.03.2016

Sunday, October 23 - Day 1 ??? DEPART USA ??? Today we depart Chicago to connect with our overnight flight to Rome aboard a wide-bodied jet. We enjoy in-flight movies, dinner and breakfast aloft. Monday, October 24 - DAY 2 - ROME - We arrive in Rome this morning where we tour her sites, including the Roman Fora passing the Arch of Constantine, the Coliseum, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We conclude our day at one of the Catacombs, burial place of early Christians.  We celebrate Mass here and view the 2nd and 3rd century fresco paintings. Continue to our hotel for dinner and overnight. Tuesday, October 25 - DAY 3 - VATICAN CITY/ROME ??? This morning we go to St. Peter???s Basilica.  We pass through the Holy Doors opened especially for this Jubilee Year.  We then celebrate Mass here, then seeing the treasures of the Vatican Museum.  We marvel at Michelangelo's restored frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.  Continue to St. Peter's Basilica to view the ???Pieta???. This afternoon we see two more of Rome???s  Major Basilicas including St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major. We pass through the Holy Doors of both Basilicas. Afterwards, we go to St. Peter in Chains to view Michelangelo's possibly most celebrated sculpture, the "Moses". Dinner and overnight at the hotel. Wednesday, October 26 - DAY 4 - VATICAN CITY/ ROME - This morning, we make our way to St. Peter's for an audience with Pope Francis if he is in residence. After lunch on our own we visit the last of the four Patriarchal Basilicas, St. Paul???s Beyond the Walls. The huge, imposing Basilica, second only to St. Peter???s and one of the largest churches in the Christian world, contains an unusual gallery of papal portraits: 265 tablets portraying the popes of the past. We pass through the Holy Doors and celebrate Mass here and return to our hotel for dinner and overnight. Thursday, October 27 - DAY 5 - ROME/ORVIETO/ ASSISI - Following an early morning departure from Rome we travel north through the Umbrian countryside. We stop at Orvieto for a visit and Mass at the breathtaking Cathedral, which is known as the jewel of Italian architecture.  Inside the Cathedral is the Chapel of the Corporal, which houses the chalice cloth, involved in the Eucharistic Miracle, which occurred in nearby Bolsena. In the 13th century a pilgrim priest named Peter of Prague was celebrating Mass at the crypt of St. Christina.  He was having a faith crisis concerning the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and while speaking the words of the consecration, blood started to drip from the consecrated Host.  Subsequently Pope Urban instituted The Feast of Corpus Christi.  Afterwards we continue to Assisi. Our first stop is in the lower town for a visit to the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, and the Portiuncula, Francis' Church of the Little Portion.  We then proceed to the hilltop village of Assisi for dinner and overnight at our hotel. Friday, October 28 - Simon & Jude - DAY 6 ??? ASSISI - This morning we begin with a short walk to the Basilica of St. Francesco for Mass. After our visit of the Basilica and the tomb of St. Francis, we begin our walking tour of the village with a visit to the Church of St. Clare ???the little plant of Blessed Francis??? as she loved to call herself, where we view the San Damiano crucifix that spoke to St. Francis.   Kneeling before it, Francis composed the following prayer, which is considered to be among the oldest of his writings:  ???All Highest, Glorious God, cast your light into the darkness of my heart.  Give me right faith, firm hope, perfect charity, and profound humility, with wisdom and perception, O Lord, so that I may do what is truly your most holy will.  Amen.???  This afternoon, our taxis take us up to the Hermitage of the Carceri, where Francis and his Friars retreated from the world to pray and fast.  Here, the grotto of St. Francis can also be seen.  We return to our hotel for dinner and overnight. Saturday, October 29  - DAY 7 - LORETO/ MONTESILVANO ??? This morning we drive east towards Ancona and visit and celebrate Mass at Loreto, the site of the Santa Casa or Holy House.  Ancient tradition tells us angels carried the house of the Holy Family from Nazareth to Loreto as it was about to be destroyed by Holy Land invaders.  After our visit, we continue southwards via the coastal highway to the Montesilvano Pescara area for dinner and overnight at our hotel on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. Sunday, October 30 -   DAY 8 - LANCIANO/SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO - This morning we visit and pray at Lanciano, the site of the oldest Eucharistic Miracle certified by the Church. After almost eight centuries the Body and the Blood still maintain all the characteristics of fresh human material.  We continue south to San Giovanni Rotondo where we celebrate Mass at the tomb of Saint Padre Pio and visit the sanctuary.  We transfer to our hotel for dinner and overnight. Monday, October 31 - DAY 9 - SAN GIOVANNI/ SUBIACO/ROME - Depart early this morning for Subiaco. It was here that Saint Benedict and his sister Scolastica retired at the end of the 5th Century and built five little monasteries.  We visit the Monastery of St. Benedict, which dates from the 13th and 14th centuries.  We visit the Sacred Cave where Benedict lived as a hermit for three years.  The staircase holds the earliest portrait of St. Francis without his halo or stigmata.  We celebrate Mass here.  Continue to Rome for dinner and overnight at our hotel. Tuesday, November 1 - All Saints - DAY 10 ??? USA - This morning we transfer to the airport for our flight to the U.S. arriving the same day.