Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Roman Juventutem Pilgrimage

Awhile back, we mentioned a Juventutem sponsored pilgrimage that was occurring within Rome to the Divine Amore shrine outside of the Eternal City.

John Sonnen at Orbis Catholicus participated in that pilgrimage (see also this post) which occurred this past Sunday.

John reports:

"...at midnight Rome's traditionalist youth set out on their first all-night pilgrimage from Rome's historic center to the famed Divino Amore shrine located just outside the city. The event was sponsored by JUVENTUTEM (see here: www.juventutem.org)...

The youth began at St. Mary Major and hiked about 25 km to the shrine. The route chosen was the most scenic - down the ancient Via Appia Antica and then through the winding cropland of the Roman countryside. The youth were guided by a GPS unit and a few breaks were taken to eat and rest in the grass.

All agreed that to walk the ancient cobblestones in the dark while praying the Holy Rosary and singing songs and a litany - all in Latin - was a source of great joy and consolation.

[...]

At dawn the Roman countryside lit up, and then it rained. The youth could even see perched on the horizon the papal summer villa at Castel Gandolfo. Then the group took an old gravel and dirt shepherd trail which led to the shrine and Holy Mass was celebrated in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite in one of the shrine chapels. It was a very special event.


John, as always, provided us with a few photographs of the event and Mass.







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