National Eucharistic Pilgrimage: Don’t miss these stops on the St. Juan Diego Route

CNA Staff, May 18, 2024 / 05:00 am

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage will span the United States with four different pilgrimages starting in California, Texas, Mississippi, and Connecticut and meeting in Indianapolis for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress.

“A cross-country pilgrimage of this scale has never been attempted before. All told, it will travel through 27 states and 65 dioceses, covering a combined distance of 6,500 miles on foot and with the help of support vehicles,” said Tim Glemkowski, CEO of the National Eucharistic Congress, Inc. “It will be a tremendously powerful action of witness and intercession as it interacts with local parish communities at stops all along the way.”

The St. Juan Diego Route, named for the beloved saint who encountered Our Lady of Guadalupe, will start at the southern tip of Texas with a Pentecost Mass hosted by the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the Diocese of Brownsville on May 19. 

Here are a few highlights among the 101 stops throughout Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana.

The most popular Marian shrine

Several days into the pilgrimage, Bishop Daniel Flores will celebrate Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan de Valle, a historic basilica and national shrine in the Rio de Grande Valley, on May 22. The most frequented Marian shrine in the U.S., San Juan welcomes more than 1 million visitors annually to honor a statue of “La Virgen de San Juan.” Built in 1949, the building was nearly destroyed in 1970 when a plane crashed into it during Mass. Though the building sustained $1.5 million in damage, no parishioners were injured and clergy were able to retrieve the statue and the Eucharist.

A historic encounter 

Pilgrims will gather for adoration and praise and worship at the historical Presidio La Bahía, a Spanish fort built in the 1740s and an important site of the Texas Revolution, on May 27. Participants will attend Mass in the chapel of the Presidio the following day.

The Anglican rite 

On May 31 in Houston, pilgrims and participants will gather at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham for an Ordinariate Evensong and adoration. Walsingham is a site of importance for the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, an ecclesiastical jurisdiction that enables Anglican converts to maintain elements of Anglican liturgy and tradition. Evensong is an Anglican liturgical tradition that combines evening and night prayer through song. 

Along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico 

A Eucharistic procession will begin on June 6 on the coast of Louisiana at the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales, a Gothic-style cathedral built in 1926. The procession will stop at several churches along the way until it reaches St. Joseph Co-Cathedral.

The pilgrimage will follow the Gulf of Mexico, stopping at historical parishes such as Our Lady of the Gulf on the bay of St. Louis, Mississippi, a historical parish built in 1847, destroyed by a fire in 1907, and rebuilt in 1908. 

A new type of New Orleans parade

On June 9, pilgrims will attend Mass at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis King of France celebrated by Archbishop Gregory Aymond. The Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis King of France is the oldest continuously active Roman Catholic cathedral in the U.S. It was built in 1727 and rebuilt after a fire in 1793. After Mass at the cathedral dedicated to the “crusading king,” participants will go on a Eucharistic procession through the French Quarter, New Orleans’ oldest neighborhood.

Procession through Nashville 

The city known for its music scene will encounter Christ this June when pilgrims shock the streets of Nashville, Tennessee, with a Eucharistic procession. On June 28, participants can join a Eucharistic procession beginning at the motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia and processing up Capitol Hill. The route will stop at three of the oldest Catholic churches in the Nashville Diocese.

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For more details on the St. Juan Diego Route, visit the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage website.