The date was October 13, 1917. Rain had soaked the Cova da Iria for hours. Somewhere between 30,000 and 70,000 people, estimates vary widely, stood in the mud outside a small Portuguese village, waiting. What they witnessed next would be reported in secular newspapers,...
The morning before I left for Lourdes, I sat in my kitchen at 5 a.m. with a cup of coffee going cold beside me, genuinely unsure if I was ready. Not logistically. Spiritually. I had the flights booked, the hotel confirmed, the rosary packed. But something felt unfinished, like I was about to walk...
The candles had been burning for hours. Standing inside the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City on a Tuesday morning in December, surrounded by pilgrims who'd traveled thousands of miles, some on their knees across cold stone, I felt something shift. It wasn't tourism. It was...
The morning you arrive at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City and watch thousands of pilgrims already on their knees, some having crawled the last kilometer on the tile floor, something shifts inside you. It isn't tourism. It isn't sightseeing. It's something older and harder to...
There's a moment that catches most pilgrims off guard. You've traveled hundreds of miles, probably lost sleep on a connecting flight through Paris, maybe dragged a suitcase over cobblestones in the rain... and then you round a corner near the Gave de Pau river and see the Grotto for the first time....
Everything you need to know to prepare spiritually and practically for your first Catholic pilgrimage. From discernment to packing, we cover it all.
Browse the full archive of 6 pilgrimages →
There's a moment that catches most pilgrims off guard. You've traveled hundreds of miles, probably lost sleep on a connecting flight through Paris, maybe dragged a suitcase over cobblestones in the rain... and then you round a corner near the Gave de Pau river and see the Grotto for the first time....