Christendom College’s President Emeritus Dr. Timothy O’Donnell and his wife, Cathy, will lead a 12-day pilgrimage to the breathtaking sites of Catholic Ireland this coming summer. With stops in Dublin, Galway, Knock, and more, the pilgrimage will introduce pilgrims into the heart of Ireland through personal encounters with the deep history, powerful literature, and profound Catholicism of the country.
“The goal of the Christendom pilgrimage is always to give those who are pilgrims a taste and an experience of Christendom College,” says O’Donnell, further expressing the hope that the pilgrimage would draw guests closer to Christ and Mary and provide an opportunity for “a deepening of the appreciation of their Catholic patrimony.”
The pilgrimage will feature Christendom’s unique blend of faith, study, and history, with locations carefully selected to reflect this, and an emphasis on Ireland’s fidelity to the Faith throughout decades of persecution.
This is the latest pilgrimage hosted by the college and the O’Donnells, following previous pilgrimages to Italy, France, Germany, and other regions of Europe. The pilgrimage, beginning on May 27 and ending on June 7, will kick off with an arrival in Dublin, followed by a stop at Clonmacnoise, a monastery founded by St. Ciaran, en route to Galway. The evening of the first day will conclude with a dinner and an overview of Irish history at Galway Bay Hotel.
In the following days, guests will visit Galway Cathedral, the Aran Islands, and Croagh Patrick, the site of St. Patrick’s 40-day vigil during Lent, followed by a tour of Knock, the location of the apparition of Our Lady of Knock. On days 4 and 5 of the pilgrimage, guests will tour Lough Eske Castle and Drumcliff, County Sligo, the burial place of poet William Butler Yeats, before heading to Slieve League, the highest sea cliffs in Ireland. Guests will then travel to Glencolmcille and the Glengesh Pass, where they will watch a demonstration of Donegal weavers prior to returning to their hotel for evening seminars.
In their last days in Ireland, guests will celebrate Mass at Doon Rock, and tour both Donegal Castle and Donegal Bay, as well as enjoying a variety of activities, ranging from hiking the renowned Bluestack Way to an Irish short story seminar complete with a whiskey tasting. Additional highlights of the pilgrimage will include tours of Newmills Corn and Flax Mill Museum and St. Eunan’s Cathedral in Letterkenny. On day 8, guests will tour Newgrange Prehistoric Site, an ancient monument in County Meath. On the final day of the pilgrimage, guests will return to Dublin to fly home to the United States.
The pilgrimage will cost $5,450 total, with airfare not included.
The O’Donnells have plans to lead similar pilgrimages to France, Switzerland, and Spain and Portugal in the coming years.
For more details or to reserve your spot, visit here.
For more information, contact Cathy O’Donnell at travel@christendom.edu.
Contributed by Bridget Palm ’28.