A Pilgrimage through
Medjugorje, Florence & Rome

Pilgrims depart the United States on an overnight transatlantic flight, connecting through Vienna for Sarajevo. A prayer before boarding places the journey under the protection of Our Lady, whose town in Herzegovina opens the pilgrimage. Flight details for the group are in the Group Flight Information section below.

The group lands in Sarajevo in the late morning and is met by a private motorcoach for the two and a half hour transfer through the Herzegovinian hills to Medjugorje. Pilgrims settle into the guesthouse, then walk to Saint James Church for Mass, with time for confessions in the many languages heard there. The rest of the evening is free to explore the town and the quiet paths around the parish.

An early start for the climb up Apparition Mountain, or Mount Podbrdo, where the Blessed Mother first appeared to the visionaries of Medjugorje. The path is rocky and uneven, and the group prays the rosary along the way. Time for lunch follows, then Mass at Saint James. The afternoon is free before adoration and dinner together in the evening.

The day begins with Holy Mass, then an excursion to Široki Brijeg Monastery, the martyrdom site of thirty Franciscan friars executed without trial in 1945. Afterwards the group visits Tihaljina, a small town near the Croatian border known for its statue of Our Lady of Grace. Following lunch, the coach returns to Medjugorje in time for the candlelight rosary procession.

The group departs Medjugorje for Florence and checks into the guesthouse. The afternoon turns to the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, crowned by Brunelleschi’s dome, whose double-shelled design remains the largest masonry dome ever built. ProRome arranges Giotto passes for the climb up the bell tower. After the cathedral, the group hears Mass at Santo Spirito and returns to the guesthouse for dinner.

An early breakfast, then Mass at San Marco and a tour of Fra Angelico’s frescoes in the friars’ cells, where St. Antoninus, the fifteenth-century Dominican archbishop of Florence, is buried. The group continues to the Accademia for Michelangelo’s David, with lunch on one’s own, then visits Santa Croce. Those who wish may walk up to the Piazzale Michelangelo for the view over the city before dinner at a local restaurant.

Mass at the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, home to a miraculous painting of the Annunciation that tradition says was finished by an angel while its painter slept. The private motorcoach then carries the group south to Rome. After checking in, the afternoon is given to St. Peter’s Basilica: Michelangelo’s Pietà, carved when he was twenty-four, the bronze statue of St. Peter worn smooth by centuries of pilgrims, and Bernini’s baldacchino over the papal altar. Dinner follows at a local trattoria.

A walking tour of Rome’s historic center opens at Piazza Navona, built over the Stadium of Domitian, with Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, and San Luigi dei Francesi, which holds three Caravaggios from the life of St. Matthew. Lunch is free near the Pantheon. The afternoon takes in the Pantheon, Santa Maria sopra Minerva with the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena, the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain.

The morning begins at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, raised over the tomb of the Apostle to the Gentiles, where medallion portraits of every pope run along the upper walls. The group then visits the Abbey of Tre Fontane, with its gardens and mosaics, before lunch at a restaurant along the ancient Via Appia Antica. In the afternoon the group descends into the Catacombs of St. Sebastian, used by Christians from the second through fourth centuries. The evening is free.

An early gathering in St. Peter’s Square for the Papal General Audience with Pope Leo XIV, who offers a catechesis, greetings in many languages, and his Apostolic Blessing for pilgrims and their families. The afternoon tours the Vatican Museums: the classical sculpture of the Pio-Clementino, the Gallery of Maps, and the Raphael Rooms with the School of Athens, ending beneath Michelangelo’s ceiling and Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. A Roman farewell dinner closes the day.

After breakfast, a private motorcoach brings the group to Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) for the return flight to the United States, carrying home the graces of nine nights from Medjugorje to the tomb of St. Peter.