Celebrate the 100th Anniversary

Nov 3 - 11, 2008    Pilgrimage to Italy 

Hosted by Msgr Brian McNamara

  Your Pilgrimage Price includes:  
 * Round-trip air from New York, JFK Airport to Rome
 * Accommodations :

              Nov 4 -11 / ~7 nights at 4-star Hotel Cicerone  in Rome
 * Meals:  7 Buffet breakfasts (at your hotel)

               6 dinners ( 3 at local restaurants, 2 with wine and music at local restaurants)

               1 "Farewell Lunch" with wine outside of Rome
 * Transportation by air-conditioned motor coach
 * Tour escort/manager throughout your stay
 * Guided tours and admission fees as per itinerary
 * Hotel taxes and service charges
 * Papal Audience
 * Mass daily
 * Baggage handling
 * Flight bag & portfolio of all travel documents

Not included:
Meals not listed above,

Airport taxes (approx. $280) will be collected with final payment (subject to change till paid in full)  

Travel Insurance www.206tours.com/insurance optional but suggested at $129 - $165.

Tips to your guide & driver (suggested $7 per person per day). 
Optional:

Day Trip on November 7

Business Class Upgrade @ $1,450 per person each way ( $2,900 roundtrip pp)

Sample day by day schedule:

 
Day 1:  Nov 3, Monday     New York - Italy  
Depart JFK  for our overnight flights to Rome. Dinner and breakfast are served on board.
 
Day 2:  Nov 4, Tuesday     Arrive Rome    
Upon arrival your escort will warmly greet you this morning and welcome you to Italy.  Transfer to your hotel and enjoy a free afternoon. Your tour escort can suggest sights or walks for you to enjoy. Mass at a nearby church.  Following Mass enjoy a  "Welcome Dinner" at a local restaurant with wine and music. Return to hotel for overnight.
 
Day 3:  Nov 5, Wednesday     Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica & Papal Audience at the
Vatican
Wake up in Eternal City, one of the greatest centers of Western Civilization and the first truly cosmopolitan city on earth! It is also the spiritual capital for all the Catholics around the world.  Today is truly a day we will have in our minds for many years to come.  This morning we will celebrate Mass early in St. Peter’s Basilica where we will grow in knowledge of the Church as one.  After breakfast we attend the weekly Papal Audience given by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.  Following the audience, we will visit the largest church in Christendom, St. Peter's Basilica, (due to our hotel proximity to St. Peters most of us have already visited).   St. Peter’s is built on the site where St. Peter was martyred. Unsurpassed in beauty, a monument to the long history of the Catholic Church, to which pilgrims come from around the world, St. Peter's is the grandest of the world's churches. Marvel at the Pieta and Bernini's amazing bronze canopy. After the Papal Audience enjoy a free afternoon for lunch, further exploration of St. Peter’s, shopping, or rest. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

Day 4:  Nov 6, Thursday Church of the Holy Apostle  St Mary Major & Ancient Rome
Start our day by boarding a bus for Mass and visit of Church of the Holy Apostle (Santi Apostoli) where relics of two Apostles Philip and James Patron Saints of our Parish are.  They were brought here and placed in the crypt under the high altar.

Continue on a tour of Christian Rome, next stop:  St. Mary Major is one of the oldest shrines dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, which contains a relic from the manger of the infant Jesus. At St. Mary Major, we will learn about one of the marks of the Church, the Church as holy.  We will take an afternoon sightseeing tour of Ancient Rome,including the Forum and Coliseum, its real name was the Flavian Amphitheatre, after the emperors who built it in the first century after Christ. We will drive by the Forum and enter into the Coliseum. The last stop on our tour will be the Church of St. Peter in Chains, featuring Michelangelo’s famous statue of Moses.  Before dinner, you'll have little time at leisure, to explore your own paths, to shop,or just to sit in one of the outside cafes and watch the world go by.  Dinner and overnight.
 
Day 5:  Nov 7, Friday     FREE DAY 
Time at leisure, to explore on our own paths, to shop, just to relax or take one of the optional day trips
Option #1: Montecassino, Naples & Pompeii  ($per person) This tour will include a stop at the Benedictine Abbey of Montecassino, a panoramic tour of Naples, a visit to the excavations of Pompeii destroyed by the eruptions of Mt Vesuvius 79 AD.  Includes transfers, lunch, sightseeing & admissions
Option #2: Florence  ($ per person)
Enjoy a day of art and shopping in beautiful Florence.  Our tour visitsL’Accadamia where we see Michelangelo’s David, The Duomo, The Ponte Vecchio, and more!  Includes transfers, lunch, sightseeing
 
Day 6:  Nov 8, Saturday    Vatican Museum, The Basilica of St. John
in Lateran & The Catacombs of St. Callistus
After breakfast we visit the Vatican Museums, where we see a group of most impressive edifices with hundreds of galleries filled with art treasures. See awe-inspiring relics and works of art donated throughout centuries as tributes of faith. We'll cover The Tapestry Gallery, The Raphael Rooms and the most overwhelming Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo's Masterpiece and restored mural of the Last Judgment. Following free time for lunch we continue on to the Basilica of St. John in Lateran, which is the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Rome, and is the former residence of the popes, prior to their return to Rome in 1377.  It is here that St. Francis persuaded Pope Innocent III to give permission to begin the Franciscan Order. We will celebrate Mass here on the actual feast of the dedication of St. John in Lateran Basilica and will explore the Church as catholic or universal.   We will go to the Catacombs of St. Callistus on the Old Appian way followed by dinner at Cecilia Metella. Dinner and overnight in Rome.
  
Day 7:  Nov 9, Sunday   Assisi
Depart Rome after breakfast for scenic transfer by motorcoach to Assisi, the town of beloved St. Francis. Visit  the tomb of St Francis. Explore the quaint hilltop birthplace of St Francis that still retains something of the atmosphere of the early 1200s, the period when St Francis began his ministry. Contained within the huge 13th-century Basilica are many of the saint's possessions and a series of frescoes depicting his life. You may kneel before the crucifix from which Jesus spoke to St Francis, asking him to rebuild His church.  It was in St Mary of the Angels Basilica where St Francis spent most of his life.  Here we visit the Chapel, Portiuncola, the rose bush, and the cave where the saint retired for prayer. Stroll the medieval streets of the compact little town.  After stopping at an outdoor cafe with a view of an ancient Roman temple, we go to the Church of St Clare to see the saint's incorrupt body. The foundress of the Order of Poor Clares followed the teachings of St Francis by living a life of poverty and humility. Return to Rome by 8PM for dinner and overnight.
 
Day 8:  Nov 10, Monday  St. Paul Outside the Walls & Farewell lunch in Castelgandolfo
This morning we board our coach to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls which houses the remains of St. Paul the Apostle, affectionately known as the Apostle of the Gentiles. Here we celebrate Mass.  Following the tour of St. Paul Outside the Walls we will have a special lunch outside of Rome, in the area of Castelgandolfo, today's summer residence of the Pope. While on route we will drive by Albano, Genzano, Nemi, Rocca di Papa, Grottaferrata and Frascati, going along the Via dei Laghi.  Return to Rome to pack and to say goodbye to this beautiful city. You will be free for dinner.
 
Day  9:  Nov 11, Tuesday   Rome - USA     
Depart for our return flights to JFK. We fondly say,  Arrivederci Roma!