Make your way to your local airport, where you will board your overnight flight(s) to Rome. Your meals will be served on board.

Welcome to Rome, also known as “The Eternal City.” Upon landing at Rome airport, claim your baggage and proceed to the Arrivals Hall, where your tour guide and/or driver will greet you. Following check-in at the hotel, enjoy some free time to unpack, relax, or explore Rome on your own. Your tour escort may suggest places to visit. Later this afternoon, your group will meet in the hotel lobby. You will depart together for Mass, and following Mass, you will attend a welcome dinner. After dinner, you have to opportunity to join in a walk to St. Peter’s Square for the Rosary (optional).

This morning we attend the Papal Audience in St. Peter’s Square or at the Audience Hall. The Audience is celebrated each Wednesday by His Holiness, Pope Francis (pending the papal schedule). Today you will visit the oldest of the four major Basilicas in Rome, the Archbasilica of St. John the Lateran, the seat of the Bishop of Rome. Cross the street to the very steps that lead up to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem which Jesus climbed on His way to trial during his Passion. Holy Mass will be celebrated by our priest at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, dedicated to Our Blessed Mother. This Basilica contains a relic from the manger of the infant Jesus. Dinner and overnight.

Today we partake in one of the unique highlights of our trip! In the morning we will attend the Ordination to the Diaconate of, Christian Hamrick, a seminarian for the Diocese of Nashville, in St. Peter’s Basilica. This will be one of the most beautiful and moving liturgies you will ever experience. After a break for lunch, we will gather again and head to the Vatican Museums, where we will see some of the greatest works of art ever created, including Raphael’s Transfiguration and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Our day in the Vatican will conclude with a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica, arguably the greatest and most important Catholic Church in the world. We will then return to our nearby hotel for dinner and overnight.

This morning we will attend our new Deacon’s first Mass and hear his first homily as an ordained minister! After lunch, continue down the Appian Way, one of the earliest roads built in ancient Rome to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls and the Catacombs. Witnessing the lives of past Saints and seeing Christian Hamrick walking closer toward his vocation will be a testament to the grace of God throughout all generations. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

This morning we will explore the Colosseum, the grand stadium where ancient Romans gathered for games and festivals, and at times to witness the execution of Christians. Its real name was the Flavian Amphitheater, after the emperors who built it in the first century after Christ. The Colosseum refers to the “colossal” statue of Nero that at one time stood at the entrance. Continue with a tour of the Roman Forum in Ancient Rome and admire incredible ruins, like the Temple of Julius Caesar. This day will also include a walking tour of central Rome, including many famous sites like the Pantheon, Casello Sant Angelo and Piazza Navona. Return to the hotel for dinner and a restful overnight.

This morning, you will board the bus and enjoy the scenic route to the Abbey of Monte Cassino, the principal monastery of the Benedictine Order, founded by St. Benedict around 530 A.D. Continue on to San Giovanni Rotondo, where St. Pio of Pietrelcina (St. Padre Pio) lived for many decades and where thousands of people have flocked to be closer to this great saint and Our Lord. Dinner and overnight in San Giovanni Rotondo.

Visit the Old Church of Our Lady of Grace and see the confessional from where St. Pio spent an innumerable number of hours listening to confessions. Next, you will board the bus and travel along the beautiful Gargano Peninsula to the Grotto of St. Michael the Archangel. Return for dinner and overnight in San Giovanni Rotondo. *Candlelight Procession – Between May and October, attend the weekly candlelight procession at the Sanctuary of St. Pio after dinner, at 9:00 pm.

After breakfast, we leave for Assisi. On the way, we stop in Lanciano for private Mass at the Convent/Church of Saint Francis built on top of the antique Church of St. Longinus – the site of a Eucharistic Miracle that occurred in the eighth century. At the time of the miracle, there was a Basilian monk, who struggled with the belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. During the time of Mass, the monk, with doubt in his voice, said the words of consecration, and the bread and wine transformed into physical flesh and blood. Leave for the Marian shrine of Loreto to visit the Holy House of Nazareth and the beautiful Madonna of Loreto. Tradition holds that this is the house in which Mary first prayed the Magnificat, in which Jesus grew to manhood, and in which the Holy Family lived, before it was transported several times by angels, to its current location. End the day in Assisi, hometown of St. Francis and St. Clare, with dinner and overnight at your hotel.

Tour of the Basilica of St. Francis, where you will see the tomb of St. Francis, and can view a series of frescoes depicting his life, along with a few of the saint’s possessions. Next you will visit the Santuario Della Spogliazione where Blessed Carlo Acutis’ tomb is, the first millennial to be declared Blessed. Continue tour by walking through this picturesque town, where St. Francis and St. Clare both followed God’s call to rebuild his church. Enjoy some free time – for additional prayer, shop and lunch. After lunch, board the bus, which will take you outside of the walls of Assisi, to the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels. This Basilica is made up of two structures, both of which you will visit. The first structure is the “Porziuncola” and the second is the “Capella del Transito” which is the place where St. Francis died. Return to the hotel for dinner and a restful overnight.

After breakfast, we will visit the Church of San Damiano. A 12th-century church and monastery located near Assisi, Italy. It is the first monastery of the Order of Saint Clare and is said to be the place where Saint Francis of Assisi received a vision from Christ that inspired him to find the Franciscan Order. Afterwards, we will visit the Hermitage of the Carceri (Eremo delle Carceri). This Franciscan hermitage was a favorite place of Saint Francis of Assisi, who would often come here to pray and contemplate. He is said to have slept in a cave in the forest, which is now known as the Cave of Saint Francis. Return to the hotel for dinner and a restful overnight.

After an early breakfast and heartfelt farewells, you will leave for Rome Fiumicino airport for a return flight home.

*206 Tours Disclaimer:
Though every effort will be made to follow the itinerary, it should be considered as an indication, rather than a contract of places to be visited. Occasionally local religious holidays, national days, weather, traffic conditions and other events may necessitate changes in the sequence of visits or the missing of certain visits.