Private pilgrimages

The program is planned around the ages of your children and the saints you love.

Parents and children, grandparents, godparents travel together and with no one else; several families who know one another may also travel as one group. A priest travels with you and celebrates Mass each day; he may be your own parish priest or a friend of the family. The historian tells each place as a story that children can follow, and the tour manager sees to everything else.

Whatever the program, we take care of the whole journey:

• Your welcome at the airport or the station, and your return at the end
• A private minibus and driver, with seats for young children
• Rooms for families, close to the shrines
• All meals, with simple dishes for children
• Days sized for children, with shorter visits and time outdoors
• Daily Mass, confession for those who wish, and the blessing of your family at a shrine
• A pilgrim’s book written for your family, with the stories of the saints you will meet
• Admissions, private openings, and travel and medical insurance

• The Martin familyFrom Via RosarumAlençon and Lisieux: the home of Louis and Zélie Martin, the first married couple canonized together, and the childhood of their daughter Thérèse.
• Mont-Saint-MichelFrom Via ArchangeliThe last miles barefoot across the bay, with a guide.
• Joan of ArcFrom Via IoannaeHer village of Domrémy, and the fortress of Chinon.
• Christmas in AlsaceFrom Via NativitatisThe Advent lights of Strasbourg, and Midnight Mass in its cathedral.

We can also plan the road around the places of your children’s patron saints, a family saint, a baptism or a vow.

1. 1

   Tell us about your family

   Who is traveling, the ages of the children, your dates, and the places or saints you have in mind.

2. 2

   We design your pilgrimage

   A day-by-day program written for your family, with its price.

3. 3

   Confirm the journey

   A deposit of 30% confirms it, and the balance is due ninety days before departure.

4. 4

   Prepare together

   A month before you leave, your priest writes to the family, and you receive your pilgrim’s book.

Each family pilgrimage is priced on its own program: the places, the length, the season, the number of travelers and the ages of the children.

Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, were married at midnight on July 13, 1858, in the church of Notre-Dame in Alençon. Canonized on October 18, 2015, they are the first married couple canonized together, and their feast is kept on July 12.

A couple’s pilgrimage can visit their house in Alençon, the church of their wedding and Lisieux, where their daughters entered the Carmel. It can also follow any other way, on the dates of your anniversary.

Each pilgrimage is planned for the two of you, and we arrange everything in France:

• Your dates, often around the day of your wedding
• A priest who travels with you, or your own priest if he can come
• Daily Mass, and the Church’s blessing of a married couple on the anniversary of their marriage, in a church you choose
• Rooms chosen for their quiet, and a table of your own
• Time left free each day, for walking and for silence
• A pilgrim’s book written for you, with the readings of your wedding Mass if you send them
• Admissions, private openings when they are granted, and travel and medical insurance

• Via RosarumThe Way of Roses, five daysThe house in Alençon where Louis and Zélie Martin raised their daughters, and the Lisieux of Thérèse.
• Via CathedralisThe Cathedral Way, seven daysSeven days of cathedrals and stained glass, from Notre-Dame to the cathedral of the coronations in Reims.
• Via MagdalenaeThe Magdalene Way, seven daysProvence, from the shore of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer to the grotto of the Sainte-Baume and Avignon.
• Via ArchangeliThe Archangel’s Way, six daysA night on Mont-Saint-Michel once the visitors have gone, and the bay crossed on foot.

Several couples who know one another may also travel as one group, with a priest of their choosing.

The price depends on the places, the length, the season and the number of couples.

• A second night where the days are fullest, so that you change hotels less often
• Shorter days on the road, rarely more than about three hours, always with a stop on the way
• A slower start in the morning, and an hour of rest after lunch
• Short walks, and the steepest climbs made by shuttle or car where one exists
• Luggage carried for you, from your room to the minibus
• A priest, a historian and daily Mass, as on every way

Each way can be lengthened by two to four days. Two examples:

• Via Gratiae in sixteen days instead of thirteen, with a second night in Lisieux, on Mont-Saint-Michel and in Lourdes.
• Via Cathedralis in nine days instead of seven, with a night in Chartres before Rouen and a second night in Amiens.

Pilgrims in their seventies and beyond, couples traveling with a parent, and anyone who wishes to make the journey without tiring. If walking is difficult, tell us when you write: some shrines are accessible and others are not, and we say so before you reserve.

The price depends on the number of days added.

A parish, a prayer group, a school or a circle of friends may travel on any of the sixteen ways, adapted to the group. We set with you the dates, the length of the journey and the places, around your community’s calendar and its patron saints.

Groups of any size are welcome, and we tell you which places can receive them. We adapt the coaches, the hotels and the program to the size of the group, and tell you which private openings remain possible for a larger company.

The rest of the rule stays the same: daily Mass, a historian and a tour manager, with your own priest as chaplain if you wish.

We also prepare pilgrimages that follow none of the sixteen ways: the places of your parish’s patron saint, a jubilee, a few days at a single shrine, or a road you already have in mind.

1. 1

   Tell us about your group

   Its size, its calendar and what it hopes for. We propose a way adapted to it, or a pilgrimage of its own.

2. 2

   Request the group leader’s pack

   The program, the price and our conditions for group leaders.

3. 3

   Set your dates with us

   Around your parish calendar.

We send group leaders the program of the way, its price, our conditions, and material to present the journey to your parish.