Christendom College will lead an eleven-day pilgrimage through Northern Italy this coming spring, offering pilgrims the opportunity to experience some of the region’s most important Catholic shrines, saints, churches, and cultural treasures. Beginning May 20 and concluding May 30, the pilgrimage will travel through Milan, Verona, Padua, Venice, Bologna, and Turin, with additional stops at Lake Maggiore and the historic Sacra di San Michele.
The pilgrimage is open to everyone, including Christendom alumni, faculty, staff, parents, donors, friends of the College, and pilgrims of all ages who would like to experience the Catholic treasures of Northern Italy.
The pilgrimage will be led by Christendom College Vice President for Undergraduate Enrollment and alumnus Tom McFadden Jr., in partnership with ProRome Tours. McFadden has previously organized pilgrimages to Rome and Assisi, Spain and Portugal, and other Catholic destinations through the Christendom-ProRome partnership. Joining him will be ProRome tour manager Bernardo Gonzalez and pilgrimage chaplain and retreat master Fr. Joseph Mary Brown ’85 of the Congregation of St. John.
“The goal is for this to be much more than simply a trip through beautiful parts of Italy,” said McFadden. “We want pilgrims to encounter the Catholic faith through the saints, churches, art, history, and culture of Northern Italy, while also having the opportunity for prayer, friendship, and personal spiritual renewal.”
Throughout the journey, pilgrims will encounter the lives, relics, and resting places of some of the Church’s most beloved saints, including St. Ambrose, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Gianna Beretta Molla, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Luke the Evangelist, St. Mark, and many others.
The pilgrimage will begin in Milan, where guests will visit the city’s famed Duomo and its rooftop terraces, pray at the tomb of St. Charles Borromeo, visit the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, and see Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper at Santa Maria delle Grazie. Milan, one of the oldest episcopal sees in the Western Church, is closely associated with St. Ambrose and the conversion of St. Augustine and offers pilgrims an opportunity to experience centuries of Catholic history in the heart of one of Italy’s great cities.
Guests will then travel to Mesero, where the relics of St. Gianna Beretta Molla are enshrined in the parish church. Following time for prayer and a presentation on her life, pilgrims will continue to beautiful Lake Maggiore for lunch along the lake and a boat ride to Isola Bella, known for its Borromean palace and Baroque gardens.
The pilgrimage will continue east through Verona, including visits to the Basilica of San Zeno Maggiore and the city’s cathedral, before arriving in Padua, where the group will stay for three nights.
From Padua, pilgrims will spend a full day in Venice, one of the world’s most extraordinary cities and a place rich in Catholic history. The day will include St. Mark’s Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, the Rialto area, and Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, home to Titian’s celebrated Assumption of the Virgin. Pilgrims will also have the opportunity to encounter St. Lucy, the beloved virgin and martyr of Syracuse, whose remarkably preserved body is venerated in Venice.
In Padua, pilgrims will celebrate Mass at the Basilica of St. Anthony, pray at the saint’s tomb, and venerate his relics. The day will also include Giotto’s renowned Scrovegni Chapel and the Basilica of Santa Giustina, where the body of St. Luke the Evangelist has been venerated for centuries.
Following that, the group will travel to Bologna, one of Europe’s great historic centers of Catholic learning. Visits will include the Basilica of San Domenico, home to the tomb of St. Dominic; Santo Stefano; and the Basilica of San Petronio. Pilgrims will also visit Corpus Domini, where they can see and pray before the incorrupt body of St. Catherine of Bologna, remarkably seated in the chapel dedicated to her. Bologna is also home to the University of Bologna, widely regarded as the oldest university in the Western world, giving pilgrims another opportunity to encounter the union of faith and learning that helped shape medieval Christendom.
The final portion of the pilgrimage will take place in Turin, one of the most saint-filled cities in the Catholic world. Pilgrims will visit the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, home of the Shroud of Turin and the tomb of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati. The mysterious image of the crucified man on the Shroud has inspired centuries of devotion and offers pilgrims a unique opportunity to contemplate the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ.
Additional stops in Turin will include the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, the spiritual heart of the Salesian movement founded by St. John Bosco. The basilica houses the tombs and relics of St. John Bosco and St. Dominic Savio, along with those of other Salesian saints. Pilgrims will also visit the Cottolengo, founded by St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo to serve the poor, sick, disabled, and abandoned; the Santuario della Consolata; and the Basilica of Corpus Domini, site of the 1453 Eucharistic miracle.
On the final full day, pilgrims will travel outside Turin to the spectacular Sacra di San Michele, a thousand-year-old Benedictine abbey built into the rock of Monte Pirchiriano overlooking the Susa Valley. Closely connected with the ancient Via Francigena pilgrimage route and traditionally associated with the “Line of St. Michael,” the abbey will provide a fitting conclusion to the pilgrimage. Mass will be celebrated there before the group returns to Turin for a final dinner together.
Throughout the journey, Fr. Joseph Mary Brown will provide spiritual leadership and sacramental support, with opportunities for Mass, confession, Eucharistic adoration, the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the Divine Office, and spiritual reflections designed to help pilgrims more fully receive the graces of the pilgrimage.
The pilgrimage will depart the United States on May 20 and return home May 30, 2027. Space is limited, and alumni, faculty, staff, parents, donors, friends of Christendom, and anyone interested in joining the College for this Catholic pilgrimage—regardless of age or connection to Christendom—is invited to participate.
For more information or to register for Christendom College’s Spring 2027 Pilgrimage to Northern Italy, visit ProRome Tours’ Northern Italy 2027 Pilgrimage website.