Pilgrimage to France: In the Footsteps of the Sacred Heart with Ted and Maureen Flynn

We depart on an overnight flight to Paris, the City of Light, and, for our purposes, the city where the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus found its grandest expression in stone, in royal decree, and in the heart of a nation. Dinner and breakfast will be served on board. Optional upgrades to Premium Economy or Business Class, along with add-on flights from other cities, are available upon request beginning approximately 120 days before departure. Because we work with group airfares, we cannot accommodate individual seat requests. If specific seats are important to your travel experience, please book your own airfare, and book the land-only package with us.

We arrive in Paris and are greeted by our Select International Tour Manager, who will accompany us throughout our entire journey. Our pilgrimage begins at the magnificent Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur, which crowns the city as a permanent act of national consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Built between 1875 and 1914 as an act of penance and hope after France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, it was the French Church’s answer to the call first entrusted to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque for France to consecrate herself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We celebrate Mass and walk the cobblestone streets of Montmartre, taking in sweeping views of the city below. Our hotel rooms are available after 4 PM when we settle in and gather for a welcome dinner and a well-deserved night of rest. Overnight in Paris.

We begin the day at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal on the Rue du Bac, where in 1830 Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Labouré and entrusted her with the design of the Miraculous Medal. The incorrupt body of St. Catherine rests here beneath a statue of Our Lady. We celebrate Mass in this intimate chapel and spend time in quiet prayer before the altar of the apparitions. We then visit the nearby Chapel of St. Vincent de Paul on the Rue de Sèvres, where the saint’s incorrupt body rests in a magnificent silver reliquary. We enjoy a panoramic tour of Paris, stopping at the Eiffel Tower for photographs. Our final stop is the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, magnificently restored after the 2019 fire. In the evening, we gather for a special dinner cruise along the Seine River, gliding past Paris’s illuminated monuments. Overnight in Paris.

This morning we depart Paris early as we drive to Chartres to see the magnificent Cathedral and celebrate Mass. We explore the Cathedral and the Crypt. Continue to Nevers, where, in the convent chapel of Saint-Gildard, St. Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary of Lourdes, spent the last thirteen years of her life as a Sister of Charity of Nevers, hidden from the world, suffering in silence, and growing daily in holiness. She died here in 1879 and never returned to Lourdes. Her body, exhumed three times and found incorrupt, rests today in a magnificent glass reliquary shrine in the convent chapel, her face serene and her hands clasped around her rosary, just as she held it when Our Lady appeared to her on the banks of the Gave. We continue south to Mâcon, our base for the next two nights, arriving in the late afternoon. Overnight in Mâcon.

This morning we dedicate ourselves to the graces of Paray-le-Monial, the sacred center of our pilgrimage and the birthplace of the modern devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the chapel of the Visitation convent, Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in a series of visions between 1673 and 1675. We celebrate a solemn pilgrimage Mass in the magnificent Romanesque Basilica of the Sacred Heart, offering our group’s intentions to the Heart of Jesus, and visit the Chapel of the Apparitions, the Room of Relics, and the Chapel of St. Claude de la Colombière, the Jesuit confessor and spiritual director who was the first to recognize and confirm Margaret Mary’s visions as authentic. In the early afternoon, we travel to the nearby village of Ars-sur-Formans, home of St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, whose entire priestly life was animated by a burning, Eucharistic love for the Heart of Jesus, and who spent hours in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. We spend time in prayer at his shrine before returning to Mâcon for dinner and our second overnight.

This morning we depart Mâcon, travel through Grenoble where we stop to celebrate Mass, and then continue into the French Alps toward La Salette. It was here, on this remote mountainside above the village of La Salette-Fallavaux, that Our Lady appeared on September 19, 1846, to two shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, weeping over the indifference of her people and calling them to conversion, prayer, and reconciliation. We arrive in the late afternoon and settle into our mountain hotel for dinner. Overnight at La Salette.

We dedicate this full day to the graces of La Salette. We celebrate Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of La Salette, built on the very spot of the apparition, and walk up to the Apparition site itself, marked by a moving bronze statue group depicting Our Lady seated in tears. We visit the small museum dedicated to the story of the two young visionaries and the message entrusted to them. In the afternoon, time is available for the Way of the Cross along the mountainside, quiet prayer in the crypt, or simply to take in the breathtaking alpine scenery surrounding this remote and powerful shrine. This evening, we gather again for dinner, grateful for a day spent in the silence and beauty of the mountains. Overnight at La Salette.

This morning we depart La Salette and travel to the gem-like Alpine town of Annecy, set on the shores of a crystal-clear mountain lake and surrounded by the peaks of the Savoy Alps. Annecy is the city of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, Doctor of the Church, and co-founder with St. Jeanne de Chantal of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, the very religious family in which St. Margaret Mary Alacoque received her visions of the Sacred Heart. We visit the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre, where St. Francis de Sales served as bishop, and the Basilica of the Visitation, where the bodies of both St. Francis de Sales and St. Jeanne de Chantal rest in magnificent reliquary shrines, and celebrate Mass in this holy spot. In the afternoon, there is time to walk the charming old town along its canals and flower-lined bridges. Dinner and overnight in Annecy.

Following Mass, we depart Annecy, traveling to Lyon. Time permitting, we visit Lyon, one of France’s oldest cities and a great early center of Christianity, home to the martyrs of 177 AD, including St. Blandina and St. Pothinus. We visit the magnificent Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, which rises above the city. Then we board the TGV train to Lourdes. Five hours later, we disembark in one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the world. Nestled beneath the mountains, Lourdes was made holy by the eighteen apparitions of Our Lady to young St. Bernadette Soubirous beginning on February 11, 1858. Our Lady, who identified herself as the Immaculate Conception, asked that a chapel be built at the Grotto of Massabielle and that pilgrims come in procession. After settling into our hotel, we walk to the magnificent Shrine Complex and, as evening falls, join pilgrims from every nation for the beloved Candlelight Procession and Group Rosary, one of the most moving experiences in all of Christendom. Dinner and overnight in Lourdes.

We immerse ourselves fully in the graces of Lourdes. We celebrate Mass at the Grotto of Massabielle, the sacred rock where Our Lady appeared, and walk in the footsteps of St. Bernadette, visiting Boly Mill where she was born, and the Cachot, the cramped, abandoned prison where her impoverished family was forced to live. We drink from the miraculous spring and have the opportunity to be immersed in the healing baths. We walk the life-sized Stations of the Cross that ascend the hillside above the Grotto, meditating on the Passion of the Sacred Heart we have honored throughout this pilgrimage. In the evening, we join the Blessed Sacrament Procession, a profound union of Eucharistic and Marian devotion at this holy shrine. Dinner and overnight in Lourdes.

Our final full day in Lourdes is given entirely to prayer, grace, and gratitude. The morning is free for personal visits to the Grotto, quiet prayer in the chapels, time in the Adoration Chapel, or a final immersion in the healing baths (TBC). We gather in the afternoon for a presentation on the story of Lourdes and the life of St. Bernadette. As the day draws to a close, we come together for a special farewell dinner with wine, giving thanks for every grace of this extraordinary journey. From SacréCœur in Paris, to the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal, to the Shrine of St. Bernadette in Nevers, to the apparition chapel of Paray-le-Monial, to the shrine of the Curé of Ars, to the mountain shrine of La Salette, to the tomb of St. Francis de Sales in Annecy, to the sacred Grotto of Lourdes, we return home carrying the promises of the Sacred Heart deep within us. Mass will be celebrated. Overnight in Lourdes.

Today marks the end of our pilgrimage. We say farewell to a country and a trip that will last in our memory forever. We are transferred to the airport for our return flight home.