A Pilgrimage to England

• Depart the U.S. on your overnight flight to London

• Arrive in London and transfer to the hotel
• Gather as a group at the hotel at 3.00pm
• Visit Tyburn Convent, with its English Martyrs’ Shrine dedicated particularly to those martyred at Tyburn, including St Edmund Campion and St Oliver Plunkett
• Walk through Hyde Park for an Opening Mass at the Brompton Oratory, founded by St John Henry Newman, newly declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIV
• Welcome Dinner at a local restaurant
• Gather in a meeting space (pending hotel) for an evening reflection and discussion to open the pilgrimage
• Overnight in London

Accommodations: Ibis London Earts Court or similar

Meals included: Dinner

• Morning visit to the Tower of London, home of the Crown Jewels and the site of imprisonment and martyrdom of many of the English Saints of the Reformation, including St Thomas More, St John Fischer, and St Philip Howard
• Visit the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula and pray at the tombs of St Thomas More and St John Fischer
• Stop for lunch at Borough Market, London’s famous outdoor food market
• Continue on to Westminster Abbey, which is the burial place of Britain’s monarchs and other key figures, including St Edward the Confessor who built the Abbey in 1050
• See Big Ben and the House of Parliament (external views)
• Mass at Westminster Cathedral
• Option to stay for sung Vespers, and have a moment for prayerful meditation
• Overnight in London

Accommodations: Ibis London Earts Court or similar

Meals included: Breakfast

• Transfer to Aylesford
• Visit the Friars Priory, with time to venerate the relics of St Simon Stock (pending availability)
• Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Simon Stock, where Mary presented the brown scapular to St Simon Stock in 1251
• Continue on to Canterbury, a pilgrimage destination for over a thousand years and the destination of the pilgrims in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales
• Time for lunch upon arrival
• After lunch, see the ruins of the sixth century St Augustine’s Abbey, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Visit England’s oldest cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the Shrine of St
  Thomas Becket, who was martyred here, and the tombs of St Anselm and St Augustine of Canterbury, the apostle to England
• If time allows, visit the Cliffs of Dover before returning to London
• Dinner on your own
• Overnight in London

Accommodations: Ibis London Earts Court or similar

Meals included: Breakfast

• Free day to rest or explore other sites and attractions in London, such as the British Museum, home of the Rosetta Stone, or Buckingham Palace
• Or, consider making this a “retreat within a retreat” day with guided readings, discussions, time for prayer, etc.
• Mass at a local church, such as Farm Street Church, or the Church of the Immaculate Conception, run by Jesuits
• Overnight in London

Accommodations: Ibis London Earts Court or similar

Meals included: Breakfast

• Transfer to Oxford, home of the oldest university in the English-speaking world, with teaching dating back to the year 1096
• Enjoy a tour of Oxford’s colleges and city center
• Starting at Oxford’s iconic Bodleian Libraries, see the Radcliffe Camera before walking over to Oriel College,
  where St John Henry Newman taught. Continue on through Christ Church Meadow to Christ Church College, where Harry Potter films were shot and home to Oxford’s Cathedral. Stop at Campion Hall, the Jesuit house of studies with relics of St Edmund Campion commemorating his time in Oxford Mass in the chapel of Blackfriars Hall, the house of study for the English Dominicans (pending availability)
• Dinner at a local restaurant, with time for discussion and sharing
• In the evening, option to attend choral evensong (Anglican vespers) at one of the colleges, an Oxford tradition and an opportunity to experience the English choral tradition
• Overnight in London

Accommodations: Mercure Oxford Eastgate Hotel or similar

Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

• Mass at the Oxford Oratory, where J.R.R. Tolkien and Gerard Manley Hopkins attended Mass
• Go over to Magdalen College, where C.S. Lewis taught and Oscar Wilde studied. See its Cloisters and Deer Park before going punting on the Cherwell River
• Alternatively, skip Magdalen College and spend the day at Littlemore (see below)
• In the afternoon, walk the pilgrimage route to Littlemore, home of the International Center of Newman Friends which preserves the rooms and relics of St John Henry Newman
• Overnight in Oxford

Accommodations: Mercure Oxford Eastgate Hotel or similar

Meals included: Breakfast

• Venture just outside Oxford to the countryside known as the Cotswolds, an area of outstanding natural beauty
• Morning Mass at the Oxford Oratory
• On your way out of the city, option to stop at Wolvercote Cemetery to see the tomb of J.R.R. Tolkien
• Tour Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, and walk its grounds
• If time allows, do a countryside walk with closing reflections and discussion before having a Farewell Dinner at a local restaurant
• Overnight in Oxford

Accommodations: Mercure Oxford Eastgate Hotel or similar

Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

• Transfer to the London airport and depart on your journey home

Meals included: Breakfast