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

Welcome to France! Upon landing at Toulouse Airport, you will make your way through Passport Control, and through Baggage Claim. Then proceed to the Arrivals Hall, where your tour guide and/or driver will greet you. Transfer from the airport to Lourdes. Attend Mass, then enjoy dinner followed by the candlelight Rosary procession at the sanctuary.

After breakfast, depart for a half day tour of Lourdes. During your time in Lourdes, you will pray and meditate in a site of Our Lady’s apparitions. Our Lady first appeared to Bernadette in 1858, and announced herself as “The Immaculate Conception”, near the Grotto of Massabielle. During the first two apparitions, little Bernadette prayed the Rosary with Our Lady and left without any exchange of words. During the following apparitions, Our Lady emphasized God’s love for us, penance, and the necessity of performing acts of penance for sinners. Following lunch, enjoy the Sanctuary of Lourdes on your own, with free time for prayer and reflection. Following dinner, you may attend the candlelight Rosary procession at the sanctuary.

After breakfast, depart Lourdes for Toulouse. In Toulouse you will visit the House of Peter Siela, the Place due Parliament, St. Sernin, and the Church of the Jacobins and cloister, where St. Thomas Aquinas is buried. Enjoy dinner and overnight in Toulouse.

After breakfast, depart Toulouse for Fanjeaux, the home of St. Dominic, then pray with the nuns in Prouille, home of the first Dominican house, in the early 13th century. On the night of July 22, 1206, as he looked down on the land of his labor, Dominic could see the church of Sainte Marie de Prouille. Some of the women he had converted had settled there and had dedicated themselves to caring for the apostolic needs of the Church. But on this July night he saw something new: a globe of fire had descended from the sky, and it rested over the church of Prouille. This sign of God, or “Seignadou,” as it came to be called, served as a confirmation of his work. The church of Prouille was to become the first foundation of the Dominican Order. Through their penance and prayer, women in the cloister of Prouille would join in St. Dominic’s work for the salvation of souls. You will end the day with a drive to Carcassone for dinner and overnight.

Wake up this morning in the fortified city of Carcassonne, an important city for St. Dominic, where he preached against the Albigensian heresy, and where he experienced failure. Depart Carcassonne for Saint-Maximim-La Sainte-Baume, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. You will visit the grotto, the basilica, and the Royal Convent of St. Maximin. Transfer to Nice to check into your hotel and enjoy dinner and overnight in Nice.

Following breakfast, depart for the Nice airport for your short flight to Rome. Upon arriving in Rome, transfer to Villaggio Betania in Bracciano. You will enjoy Mass and dinner followed by an overnight stay at the Dominican Sisters’ Convent.

Wake up in the Villagio Betania in Bracciano and depart for Rome after breakfast. You will spend the whole day in Rome, beginning at St. Peter’s, visiting Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and after lunch, enjoy a walking tour of Rome. At the end of the tour, depart for Bracciano for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast at the convent, depart with your guide for another day in Rome. Attend Mass at Santa Sabina, followed by a visit to the Church of St. Cecilia. You’ll have free time for lunch and the rest of the day to explore Rome, before returning to Bracciano for dinner and overnight.

Following breakfast, you will attend a retreat led by your priest, including Mass. Enjoy dinner at the Villaggio, followed by a restful night’s sleep.

After an early breakfast and heartfelt farewells, you will leave for Rome Fiumicino airport to board your return flight(s) home.

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