For information regarding our June 2017 Pilgrimage to England: In the Footsteps of Saint Thomas More and Blessed John Henry Newman, please read below. 

Please call 202-536-4555 or email [email protected] to have us hold a place for you. Only 15 pilgrims will travel!

Inside the Vatican Pilgrimages
In the Footsteps of Saint Thomas More and Blessed John Henry Newman
June 16 – 25, 2017
England: Oxford and London

London Town
An Invitation from Leonie Caldecott:

Dear Friends,

I would like to extend a warm invitation to you, to join me and Inside the Vatican Pilgrimages for a special pilgrimage to my home country, England: “In the Footsteps of Saint Thomas More & Blessed John Henry Newman”. These two great men, separated by three tumultuous centuries, are examples of the finest hearts, minds and souls that England has produced.

LeonieWe have worked hard to create a unique and special eight days, including the Feast of St Thomas More on June 22 when we will visit the cell in the Tower of London where he spent his last days. In fact, we have been granted by the Warden of the Tower the very rare privilege of attending a private Mass said for us in this very cell!

We’ll also discuss the “Second Spring” of English Catholicism and visit the Oratory where John Henry Newman was received into the Catholic Church.

Not to be forgotten is the virtuoso of the English language, Shakespeare, who lived and wrote in the era of the “recusants” who refused to abandon their Catholic faith for the newly established Church of England. (Some even say he was one of them.) We will see, and discuss, his celebrated Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, an exact replica of the historic Globe Theater where Shakespeare himself saw his own plays performed.

I hope you will enjoy every aspect of your time with us, from places of great spiritual and historical resonance, to the people we shall meet, all of whom have a special expertise in the fascinating history of English Catholicism and especially the holy men who embody it so well.

But most of all I hope you will take away from your pilgrimage a sense of the culture of the mother country which played such an important role in making the United States of America what she is today. Dr. Robert Moynihan, the editor and founder of Inside the Vatican magazine, and I look forward to traveling with you!

— Leonie Caldecott
“Inside the Vatican Pilgrimages is collaborating with our friend in England, Leonie Caldecott on this pilgrimage. Leonie is the wife of the late Stratford Caldecott, with whom, in the 1990s, Leonie founded the Second Spring Centre for Faith and Culture and its journal. Leonie is the editor of the UK/Eire edition of Magnificat and running courses and events on Catholic culture in the UK. Leonie is also the UK editor of the online journal Humanum, published by the John Paul II Institute in Washington DC. Leonie will travel with us on the entire pilgrimage.”
Iconic Oxford

Pilgrimage Overview

Oxford
  • Spend 4 nights at the 4-Star Oxford Spires Hotel,  alongside the Thames River

  • Dine at the Eagle & Child pub, the famous meeting place of the Inklings — C. S. Lewis and G. K. Chesterton — and at other famous pubs in Oxford

  • Attend seminars at Oxford University

  • Tour Oxford’s Bodleian Library, one of the oldest libraries in Europe

  • Visit the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford and climb to the cupola for breathtaking views of Oxford

  • Go on a walking tour of Blessed John Henry Newman’s Oxford

  • Take an excursion to Littlemore to visit the International Centre of Newman Friends and the sites where Newman lived, prayed and studied before his conversion.

  • Attend Mass in the chapel where Blessed John Henry Newman converted

  • Celebrate Sunday Mass at the Oxford Oratory

Oxford Spires

Oxford Spires Hotel

Iconic Oxford
London
  • Spend 4 nights at the Grange Wellington Hotel (photo right)

  • Attend a performance of Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

  • Go on a walking tour of the early years of St. Thomas More including Milk Street, St. Paul’s Cathedral, St. Lawrence Jewry, Lincoln’s Inns and Guildhall.

  • Attend a private Mass celebrated the cell of Thomas More on his feast day — a unique and rare privilege

  • Attend evening prayer and Mass in beautiful Westminster Cathedral

  • Visit Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament , and Westminster Hall where Thomas More was tried and Pope Benedict XVI delivered his famous address in 2010

  • Tour the Tower of London, and the Tower Hill, the site of St. Thomas More’s exception, on the Feast Day of St. Thomas More

  • Pray at St. Peter ad Vincula where the remains of St. Thomas More are buried, and visit All Hallows chapel where More’s daughter Margaret prayed for her father during his execution

  • Visit Tyburn Convent and share English tea with Mother Superior as we listen to her thoughts on the many English martyrs who were hung, drawn, and quartered near this convent. Attend evening prayers and Eucharistic Adoration

  • Tour the Crypt of Tyburn Convent and pray by the relics of the English Martyrs

  • Dine with friends of Inside the Vatican magazine at some our favorite pubs and restaurants in England

Grange Wellington Hotel

Grange Wellington Hotel

Westminster Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral

Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament

Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament

Seminars in Oxford: Speakers and Topics

Oxford
Leonie Caldecott

Leonie Caldecott is the wife of the late Stratford Caldecott, with whom, in the 1990s, she founded the Second Spring Centre for Faith and Culture and its journal, Second Spring. Leonie and her eldest daughter Teresa now work together, editing the UK/Eire edition of Magnifict and running courses and events on Catholic culture in the UK. Leonie is also the UK editor of the online journal Humanum, published by the John Paul II Institute in Washington DC. Leonie will travel with us on the entire pilgrimage.

Seminar Topic: English Catholicism: the “Second Spring” Down the Centuries.

Katherine Turley

Katherine TurleyKatherine Turley is the Lecturer in Literature at Newman College, an excellent new academic institution in Ireland, where she also teaches Gregorian Chant. A direct descendant of St. Thomas More, she obtained her MA in English Literature from Oxford University.

Seminar Topic: The Life and Sanctity of St. Thomas More.

Dr. Gerard Kilroy

Dr. Gerard Kilroy is the author of Edmund Campion: A Scholarly Life (Ashgate 2015). He read Classics and English at Oxford and obtained his doctorate from Lancaster University. He has held fellowships at the Folger Shakespeare Library and St Catherine’s College Oxford, and a visiting professorship at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. He is a consultant to a group at Tischner and Jagiellonian Universities, Krakow, working on “Subversive publication in Early Modern England and Poland.” He is a frequent contributor to Recusant History, a journal of research into post-reformation history in the British Isles. He is also an Honorary Visiting Fellow at University College London.

Seminar Topic: The Crisis of the Reformation and Recusant Themes in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. We will be seeing this very play at the Globe Theatre in London, reconstructed exactly as it was in Shakespeare’s time..

Father Jerome Bertram

Father Jerome BertramFather Jerome Bertram from the Oxford Oratory will accompany us to Littlemore and speak about Newman’s journey of faith. He will also celebrate Mass for us in the chapel there where Newman was received into the Catholic Church. As well as being an Oratorian and the librarian at the Oxford Oratory, Father Bertram is a prolific author, contributor to Magnificat UK, as well as writing on Newman, prayer, Scripture and the priestly life.

Additional Information
  • This pilgrimage is a Land Package Only.

  • Signature Pilgrimage: Our June 16—25, 2017 Pilgrimage to England is part of our premier line of Signature Pilgrimages — limiting the number of pilgrims to 15 for a peaceful and personal experience. In addition, Leonie Caldecott, co-founder of the Second Spring Centre, and Deborah Tomlinson, Chief Operations Officer of Inside the Vatican magazine, will be traveling with the pilgrims for the entire pilgrimage. Dr. Robert Moynihan, the editor and founder of Inside the Vatican magazine also will travel with us.

Big-Ben

Join Inside the Vatican for this once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage!

For more information or to reserve your spot, contact our US Office at 1-202-536-4555 or email us at [email protected]

We have many pilgrimages in 2017 –2017 Pilgrimages
London