Monthly Spiritual Message, May 2025
By Fr Joe McKay OFM
The Church teaches that pilgrimages are a reflection of our life, the journey towards the Kingdom of God. Jesus himself gave an example of going on pilgrimages, travelling to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the great Jewish feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Sukkot. (John 2:13-14; 5:1, 14; 7:1, 10, 14; 8:2; 10:22-23).
Pilgrimages to venerate the saints are a penitential practice (Catechism 1438) and has been a recognised pious practice of the Church since the Council of Nicea (787) and was reaffirmed in the Council of Trent (1563). The Directory on Popular Piety and Liturgy (Chapter VIII) provides guidelines for pilgrimage sites honouring the saints.
Sacred places are given formal approved by the local bishop where they encourage the worship of God, reconciliation and evangelisation. Pilgrimages are a multifaceted faith experience and have festive, worship, apostolic and communion dimensions. Progress on a pilgrimage needs to be marked by liturgy and prayer to guide participants into deepening their prayer life, reminded pilgrims that it is the pilgrim’s actions, not the destination that is important in seeking God’s grace.
In the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 11), Christians are reminded to be “pilgrims and strangers” in this world. St Francis quoted this in his Testament and called them to be detached from the wealth and power of this world. This call for detachment as “pilgrims and strangers” is repeated in Rule 11 of the SFO Rule.
In medieval times, pilgrimage was seen as a penitential practice. People would leave the security of their homes and community to journey to Holy Land or the shrines of the saints. This journey could be perilous and pilgrims needed to trust in God for a safe return. On pilgrimage, a pilgrim gets out of their comfort zone and may enter into a world that is strange to them: new places, people and cultures.
St Francis of Assisi is associated with three significant pilgrimage destinations. Thomas Celano relates how in his early conversion to religious life St Francis dressed as a beggar and went on a pilgrimage to Rome (2 Cel 5). The Little Flowers (Chapter IV) describes the second pilgrimage of St Francis, on the famous Camino de Santiago de Compostela, to the shrine of St James in Spain in 1215. His companion on the pilgrimage, Bernard of Quintavalle established the friars there, and he became the first Provincial of Spain. The third pilgrimage St Francis is associated with is to the Holy Land. Thomas Celano documents how he tried and failed to get there in 1212. (1Cel 20) After the Crusade in Egypt and the meeting with the Sultan, Francis visited the Christian port of Acre, in what is now northern Israel, from there he may have visited Jerusalem. St Francis of Assisi’s entire life was spent on the move, always as a “pilgrim and stranger” to the things of this world.
The burial site of St Francis of Assisi (Papal Basilica of St Francis) and St Clare (Basilica of St Clare) became popular pilgrimage destinations soon after their deaths. Similarly a great basilica was raised over the tomb of St Anthony of Padua. The popularity of these places as pilgrimage destinations remains today, as do the many sites that mark St Francis life: La Verna and Greccio. There is a formal pilgrim walking trail that runs from La Verna to Rome via Assisi, The Way of St Francis, which is recognised by the Franciscan family. A modern saint’s tomb, St Padre Pio, is also a major pilgrimage destination.
The burial sites of Secular Franciscan Order patrons and members are also pilgrimage destinations. Lady Jacoba de Settesoli is buried next to St Francis in the crypt of the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi. Luchesius Modestini, (d 1260) and Buonadonna di Segni, considered the first Third Order members, have a shrine in the Franciscan Convent of St Luchecci (Luchesius).
The bones of King St Louis IX of France (d 1270), patron of the Order, were buried in the Royal crypt of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, Paris. His tomb was destroyed in the French Revolution. However, his other bodily remains, which were placed in an urn after his death while on a crusade in Tunisia, are honoured in a shrine in the Cathedral of Monreal, Sicily.
Patron of the Order, St Elizabeth of Hungary’s shrine was a major pilgrimage site, the Elizabethkiche in Marsburg (Germany). The Elizabethkiche became a Protestant church during the Reformation. Today a Catholic mass for pilgrims is regularly held at her tomb in veneration of her.
In Japan the majority of the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Nagasaki (d 1597) were Secular Franciscans. The Oura Cathedral and the Martyrs Memorial are places of pilgrimage honouring these martyrs and the rebirth of the Church in Japan. Nearby is a friary established by St Maximilliam Kolbe. After the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, the Franciscan family established an international community dedicated to peace building. Nagasaki is a place of pilgrimage for many Franciscans in Asia.
In Australia, the tomb of Conventual Friar Claude-Francois Joseph Louis Receveur (d 1788) at La Perouse, NSW, who was the first Catholic priest buried on Australian soil, is honoured with a prayer service on the anniversary of his death (February 17th, 1788). A significant member of the Third Order Waverley fraternity Charles O’Neil (d. 1900), who established of the Society of St Vincent de Paul in NSW is buried in the paupers’ section of Rookwood Cemetery and is honoured with a memorial there. Many of the early founders of the Third Order in Australia are buried in Waverley Cemetery and Melbourne cemeteries. All of these are our local sacred sites.
One can be a “pilgrim and stranger” without leaving home. It is the sense of detachment and placing one’s life and security into the hands of God that marks OFS Rule 11. Formal pilgrimages to sacred sites help develop that sense. The veneration of the saints at their tomb or before their relics is a way of becoming closer to the action of God in this world.
Visiting tombs and relics reminds us that we share in the same communion with Christ and experience of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as the saints. We ask the saints to pray for us: as one family we pray for the dead and they pray for us. (Catechism 946-962) We undertake one of the spiritual acts of mercy when we visit tombs and pray for the dead.
A fraternity might organise a pilgrimage to a cathedral, church or cemetery in their area. Visit the tomb of St Mary MacKillop of the Cross in North Sydney? Journey to a Franciscan Church or pray at the grave of a member of the Franciscan family together? Visit the Shrine of Holy Innocents? Seek the Portiuncular Indulgence? Pray the Stations of the Cross as a fraternity? Join a pilgrimage to Assisi, Rome or the Holy land run by the Friars? Journey to the CIOFS Chapter of Mats in Rome or the local Franciscan Family proposed in 2026? The destination matters little, more important is the intent of the journey.
The act of going on pilgrimage can help bring a fraternity together. The struggles and encounters on the journey can help people let go of their dependence on possession and deepen their sense of trust in God. Going on a physical pilgrimage aims to help focus on the more important task of being “pilgrims and strangers” in our daily lives.
Bibliography
Apostolic Penitentiary, Manual of Indulgences http://holyjoe.org/indulgences/Indulgences_1999.pdf
Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The Directory on Popular Piety and Liturgy. https://www.cultodivino.va/en/documenti/atti-del-dicastero.html
Pope Paul VI. Apostolic Letter Indulgentiarum Doctrina https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_constitutions.index.10.html
Way of St Francis. https://www.viadifrancesco.it/en/
Fr Joseph McKay OFM
National Spiritual Assistant OFS
