PILGRIMAGEOUR LADY’S TO DOWRY ENGLAND UNDER SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE OF FATHER NEIL J.ROY S.T.L., Ph.D. Tour co-ordinator - Ms. Pearl Tam. May 1 – May 14, 2015 - 14 days – CA$ 4,090.00 plus airport tax (minimum 25 paying pilgrims required) Travel arrangements by QS Travel & Tours Inc. affiliate of Queen Syrena Travel Inc. 3055 Dundas St. W., #4, Mississauga, ON L5L 3R8. Tel. 905.412.2242 or 1-800-565-3619 www.qstours.com May 01 Departure on our transatlantic flight to London. May 02 Arrival in London. We board our motorcoach, heading for Aylesford, to visit Aylesford Abbey (Carmelite priory and Shrine) and venerate the relics of St. Simon Stock to whom Our Lady of Mt Carmel entrusted the Brown Scapular. We also receive scapulars blessed on this occasion at the Aylesford Shrine. From there we drive to Canterbury. After lunch we walk to the Church of St. Thomas the Martyr (Catholic). We tour the church and celebrate Holy Mass. Afterwards we walk to Canterbury Cathedral, where we enjoy a tour. The rest of the evening is at leisure. Dinner and overnight in Ashford. May 03 After breakfast and morning Mass at St. Thomas the Martyr Church, we walk to St. Augustine’s Abbey for a tour of the grounds. From there we walk to the Church of St. Martin, which together with St. Augustine’s Abbey and the Cathedral, is part of the Canterbury World Heritage Site. Then on to the Anglican church of St. Dunstan (site of St. Thomas Mores’s head). The rest of the day is at leisure. Dinner and overnight in Ashford. May 04 After morning Mass at St. Thomas, we have breakfast, and board our motorcoach for the drive to Norwich, home of the renowned mystic Julian of Norwich (1342-1416). An account of her mystical experience, The Revelations of Divine Love, constitute the earliest extant book written in English by a woman. We visit the Anglican cathedral, then the Anglo-Catholic Shrine of Julian of Norwich, which is the site of her anchorite’s cell. We also visit the Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. We continue to Kings Lynn for dinner and overnight. May 05 After breakfast, we visit the ruins of Walsingham Priory (Augustinian) suppressed in 1538; then the Anglican Shrine with its replica of the holy house of Nazareth. Then to Mass in the Slipper Chapel (England’s National Catholic Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary) one mile outside Walsingham. The Slipper Chapel contains the highly venerated statue of Our Lady of Walsingham. After Mass pilgrims are free to lunch in town and explore the churches and shops in Walsingham. Dinner and overnight in Kings Lynn May 06 After breakfast, we drive to Ely. We visit Ely Cathedral (Anglican), one of the most beautiful in Cambridgeshire. Next we drive to the Roman Catholic church of St. Etheldreda, which dates from 1891. We celebrate Holy Mass, and tour the church. We continue to Peterborough to visit Peterborough Cathedral (Anglican), containing the tomb of Queen Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and consort of Henry VIII.After lunch we drive to Heworth, burial site of Mary Ward (1585-1645), foundress of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto Sisters). Later in the afternoon we drive a short distance to York, site of York Minster (Anglican), and visit the house and shrine of St Margaret Clitherow (1556-1586), nicknamed “the pearl of York.” Dinner and overnight in York. May 07 After breakfast, we drive to York Minster (Anglican), and enjoy a guided tour of one of the grandest cathedrals in England. Afterwards we drive to Durham. We visit Durham Cathedral (Anglican). Built in 1093 to house the shrine of St. Cuthbert (634-687), it has been a pilgrimage site for nearly a millenium. Now a UNESCO Heritage site, it is renowned as a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture. It features a Galilee chapel. Durham Cathedral Library descends from the library of the monastery founded at Lindisfarne by St Aidan in 635 AD. It is the best-preserved medieval library in the UK, with manuscripts dating from the sixth century to the modern day. We also visit St. Cuthbert’s Roman Catholic Church, where we celebrate Mass. After lunch we spend some leisure time in Durham. From there we drive to Birmingham for dinner and overnight. May 08 After breakfast we drive to St. Chad’s Cathedral, the first Catholic cathedral to be built after the Reformation. We celebrate Mass at the cathedral, which was designated a minor basilica in 1941. After Mass we tour the cathedral. After lunch we visit the Oratory on Hagley Road, Edgbaston, founded by Bd. John Henry Newman (1801-1890) in 1848. We visit Newman’s library and rooms, and Newman’s Shrine. Then we proceed to the parish church of the Immaculate Conception (now known as Cardinal Newman Memorial Church), which was J.R.R. Tolkien’s parish church for nine years. Dinner and overnight in Birmingham. May 09 After breakfast and morning Mass at Cardinal Newman Memorial Church we drive to Harvington, where we tour Harvington Hall. This moated Elizabethan manor house was used by Catholics during the persecution to hide priests. Many such hideouts were discovered, and the priests were martyred, but the “priest holes” in Harvington Hall were never discovered. From there we drive to Oxford, home of one of the most famous universities in England. We visit the Church of St Aloysius on Woodstock Road, tour some of the university buildings, then drive out to Littlemore (site of Bd J.H. Newman’s conversion in 1845). Dinner and overnight in Oxford. May 10 After morning Mass at St Aloysius and breakfast we drive to Bath, a UNESCO World heritage city. We tour Bath Abbey (Anglican), built as a Benedictine monastery in the seventh century, decorated with magnificent fan vaulting under Henry VII, but later left to fall into disrepair. Elizabeth I promoted the restoration of the abbey, to be used as a parish church (Anglican). After lunch we continue to Stratton-on-the-Fosse, to visit Downside Abbey (Catholic), and venerate the relic of St Oliver Plunkett, the last Irish Martyr of the Protestant Reformation. After that, we continue to Wells, to visit Wells Cathedral (Anglican) renowned for its inverted arch. Later in the afternoon we drive to Glastonbury, to visit the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, and Glastonbury Tor. Dinner and overnight in Taunton. May 11 After breakfast we visit St. Mary’s Catholic Church, just across the road from the Glastonbury Abbey grounds. We celebrate Mass here and tour the church. We drive to Salisbury, to visit Salisbury Cathedral (Anglican), containing the best preserved of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta. Salisbury Cathedral will be taking a leading role in the celebrations of the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. We enjoy a guided tour. From there we proceed to St. Thomas Becket Church (Anglican), with its famous mural of the Last Judgment. After lunch we drive to London. We visit the London Oratory, founded in 1849 by Fr Frederick William (Wilfrid) Faber (1814-1863). Dinner and overnight in London. May 12 Celebrate mass at the R.C. Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Drive to Tyburn Convent (Catholic), site of the martyrdom of more than 125 Catholic priests and lay people during the Reformation. We celebrate Holy Mass, and tour the reliquary of the saints. From there we drive to Westminster Abbey (Anglican), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, originally built by St Edward the Confessor (1003-1066) as the Benedictine Abbey (minster) of Sts Peter and Paul. We follow a guided tour, visit the tomb of St Edward the Confessor, and have lunch in the cathedral’s Cellarium Cafe or a nearby kiosk on the Sanctuary outside the West Towers before we visit St. Margaret’s Church next door. From there we walk to the nearby Westminster Cathedral, the principal see of the Roman Catholic Church in Britain. Its Byzantine design sets it apart from most other churches in England. The building was completed in 1903. Dinner and overnight in London. May 13 After breakfast we drive to St. James’s Spanish Place, where we celebrate Holy Mass. Today we make or renew our Consecration to Our Lady after the 33-Day Consecration prayers. In the reign of Elizabeth I the Bishops of Ely let their palace and chapel in Ely Place to the Spanish Ambassador, and until the reign of Charles I it was occupied by the representative of the Court of Spain. During this period the chapel was freely used by English Catholics and became a place of sanctuary for them. From St. James we drive to St. Etheldreda’s Ely Place, the London residence and church of the bishops of Ely. St Etheldreda’s was purchased in an auction for one hundred pounds Sterling, making it the oldest church in Catholic hands in England. After lunch we visit the Tower of London, site of many imprisonments and martyrdoms throughout the ages. We venerate the bodies of Sts John Fisher (1469-1535) and Thomas More (1478-1535). Dinner and overnight in London. May 14 After morning Mass and breakfast we board our bus for transfer to the airport. TOUR COST CAD$4,090. + taxes, INCLUDES: IMPORTANT INFORMATION - air transportation – hotel accommodation first class or superior tour-ist class based on double occupancy - single supplement $850 Please note: This is a Catholic pilgrimage, not a secular sightseeing – 2 meals daily breakfast and dinner.