2025 Jubilee: Italy Pilgrimage with St. Mary of the Assumption Church

Our pilgrimage begins with an overnight flight to Rome! (Bring a good book, your rosary, and prayer intentions.) Meals and refreshments are served on the plane.

Welcome to Rome! After gathering our bags and meeting our tour manager, we transfer via deluxe motorcoach from Rome for our journey to Florence. We will check into the hotel followed by a welcome dinner.

Dinner & Overnight in Florence

Following breakfast, we will spend the day visiting the beautiful city of Florence, located on the Arno River. Our guided tour will include the magnificent Franciscan church of Santa Croce with it’s beautiful facade. The church is a burial place of nobles, among which are Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli. Next, we’ll continue through Republic Square to the Santa Maria del Fiore, a 13th century cathedral. We break for lunch before visiting L’Accademia, where we will view Michelangelo’s David, as well as other works of art. There’ll be free time to explore the museum and the rest of Florence before returning to the hotel.

Dinner & Overnight in Florence

After breakfast today, we make a day trip to visit the medieval city of Siena, St. Catherine’s home. We proceed to the cathedral to adore the Eucharistic Miracle of Siena, which contains consecrated hosts that have remained barely cor­rupted for over 200 years! We return to Florence and enjoy a walking tour through Piazza Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi and Ponte Vecchio.

Dinner & Overnight in Florence

Following breakfast this morning, we depart Florence and make our way to the hilltop village of Assisi, the birthplace of Saint Francis of Assisi and a UNESCO world heritage site known for its magnificent medieval architecture. Upon arriving, we will be taken up to see the most beautiful view of the city. In the afternoon, we will make our way down into the valley of Assisi where we visit the beautiful Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, home of the Chapel Portiuncula, where St. Francis lived and worked after founding the Franciscan order, and where Mother Mary appeared to Francis in 1216. We will have Mass and then visit the miracle garden of the thornless rose bush. After our hotel check-in, we will gather for prayer and Mass.

Dinner & Overnight in Assisi

Following breakfast, we will gather for our guided tour of Assisi. We begin at the Basilica of Saint Clare, one of the first followers of St. Francis. Here, we will descend to St. Clare’s lower crypt, where we will pray before her incorrupt body and reflect before many of her relics that remain with us today. We will also have a chance to pray before the San Damiano cross, the very cross that Christ spoke to St. Francis through, asking Francis to rebuild his Church. Continuing to the Basilica of Saint Francis, we will be guided through the meaning of the many frescoes that surrounds us, depicting his saintly life. We will then have an opportunity to descend to the lower crypt where we will pray before the tomb of St. Francis, and the remains of his first followers. Today we will also visit the Chiesa Nueova and San Francesco Piccolino.

Dinner & Overnight in Assisi

After breakfast this morning, we bid farewell to Assisi and head south to Rome. Enroute, we visit the gorgeous hilltop town of Orvieto. The town sits on a 1,000-foot high rock formation, poetically crowned by Italy’s most renowned Gothic cathedral. We visit the famous Cathedral housing the corporeale of the Miracle of the Eucharist in Bolsena where we will celebrate Mass. Arrive in Rome this evening in time for dinner.

Dinner & Overnight in Rome

After breakfast, we’re off to Saint Peter’s Square for the Papal general audience with Pope Francis (subject to the Pope’s schedule) followed by a private Mass nearby. Following a short lunch break, we’ll tour the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica.

Dinner & Overnight in Rome

Today we will visit and have an opportunity to walk through the Holy Doors at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the Basilica of St. Mary Major, and the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. The Holy Doors of Rome’s four major papal basilicas are opened only during times of jubilee, symbolize passing into the presence of God by way of our Lord Jesus, who called himself the “gate.” Those who walk through them are granted a plenary indulgence for the removal of temporal punishment for their sins. At the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran we also will have the opportunity to climb the Lateran Steps and attend Mass. Before we close the day, we will travel to the Pontifical North American College for a private tour, offering stunning views of Rome.

Dinner & Overnight in Rome

Following breakfast we’ll visit the Catacombs of Rome where Mass will be celebrated in an underground chapel. Following the Catacombs we will visit the Church of St. Augustine and the tomb of St. Monica, the Church of St. Ignatius, and the Church of the Gesù, the mother church of the Jesuit Order. We’ll continue onto the Pantheon before finishing our day visiting the Museum of the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

Dinner & Overnight in Rome

Following breakfast, we travel back in time with a historic tour of Ancient Rome. Making our way along centuries-old cobblestone streets lined with Rome’s stately stone pines, we arrive at Ancient Rome’s monumental three-tiered amphitheater, the Colosseum, once used for gladiatorial games. We will also pass by the Roman Forum, open grounds that are now surrounded by the ruins of ancient government buildings at the center of Ancient Rome. We will then make our way to visit San Gregorio Magno al Cielo Convent, the Roman motherhouse of the Missionaries of Charity. It is here where Saint Teresa of Calcutta resided when she visited her sisters in Rome.

Dinner & Overnight in Rome

With a renewed sense of pilgrimage, and an invigorated love of our Catholic faith, we transfer to the Rome Fiumicino Airport, say farewell to our fellow pilgrims and new friends, and board our return flight home.