0217AA7 - Medjugorje & Italy Pilgrimage 9 days from New Orleans

Today, we depart from New Orleans to connect with our overnight flight to Europe. We enjoy in-flight movies, dinner and breakfast aloft.

This morning we arrive in Italy and connect to our flight to Dubrovnik. We are met by our guide and transferred to Medjugorje. Upon arrival in Medjugorje we go to our accommodation and are introduced to our host family. Light snack or dinner will be served depending on the time of arrival.

After breakfast, Holy Mass for English speaking pilgrims is at 10:00 a.m. in the church of St. James. Following Mass, we have an opening meeting and introduction at the shrine of Our Lady Queen of Peace. We listen to a talk by one of the Medjugorje priests on the messages of Our Lady. We visit Mostar. We return to Medjugorje for dinner and overnight. After dinner we participate in the evening program.

After breakfast, we meet with our guides at the statue of Our Lady to walk through the vineyards, to the Hill of Apparitions (Podbrdo). We hear the story of the first days of the apparitions and then climb, in prayer, to the site of the first apparition. Here we celebrate our Mass. There is usually a talk by one of the visionaries on the messages of Our Lady or a meeting with one of the parish priests. Dinner and overnight in Medjugorje. Evening prayer program in the church.

Following our final Mass in Medjugorje, we depart over the mountains and again cross the border to Croatia. We stop in Makarska, center of the vacation area on the beautiful Croatian coast and enjoy free time for lunch on the promenade overlooking an idyllic bay. Continue along the spectacular Magistrale coast road to Split where we enjoy a short sightseeing tour including the 3rd century Diocletian Palace and Cathedral, formerly the Mausoleum of the Emperor Diocletian. We enjoy dinner near the port before boarding our overnight ferry to Ancona in Italy.

This morning, we arrive in Ancona where we are met and transferred 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 celebrate Mass here. After lunch on our own, we begin our walking tour of the Upper Village at the Basilica of St. Francesco with a visit to St. Francis Tomb. We visit the Church of St. Clare to view the crucifix that spoke to St. Francis. Finally, we visit the resting place of newly canonized in 2025 St. Carlo Acutis who was 15-years old when he died in 2006 from leukemia. Acutis' tomb is in Assisi's Sanctuary of the Renunciation, the spot where a young St. Francis of Assisi cast off his rich clothes in favor of a poor habit. We continue to our hotel for dinner and overnight in Assisi.

This morning, we depart Assisi and travel south to the Eternal City, Rome. After lunch on our own, we w tour the Basilica of St. Mary Major. St. Mary’s holds relics of Christ’s Holy Manger from Bethlehem and a piece of the true cross from Golgotha. The golden ceiling of St. Mary’s is decorated by the first gold brought back from the New World by Christopher Colombus. The Spanish Catholic Kings—Ferdinand and Isabel—gave the gold as a gift to the Pope. We take time to pray at St. Mary’s, the largest church dedicated to Mary in the west, built in the fifth century following the Council of Ephesus. We conclude our day at St. Sebastian’s Catacombs, burial place of early Christians. We celebrate Mass here and view the relic of the arrow that wounded St. Sebastian and a cast of the footprints of Christ made famous in the Quo Vadis episode. Dinner and overnight at our hotel in Rome.

This morning, we make our way to St. Peter's for the Audience of Pope Leo XIV, if he is in residence. After lunch on our own, we visit the Vatican Museums which culminate in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Afterwards, we view the treasures of St. Peter’s Basilica including the Pieta, Bernini’s “Window of the Holy Spirit” made from alabaster as well as his famous altar columns in St. Peter’s. One altar column contains the spear of St. Longinus, which was on display earlier this year. St. Longinus, the Roman centurion who pierced the side of our Savior, was converted by the blood and water that flowed from Christ’s Sacred Heart. We enjoy dinner with entertainment out at a local restaurant tonight. Overnight at our hotel in Rome.

We transfer to the airport for our return flight to the U.S with unforgettable memories to cherish always.