WAF England and Wales National Pilgrimage

There will be a National Pilgrimage in 2024.

Fr Jason Jones, the WAF England and Wales Spiritual Director, is organising the 2024 pilgrimage for early July.

This pilgrimage will include the special ceremonies on the twelfth and thirteenth of the month, and includes return Flights to Lisbon, half-Board in Domus Pacis hotel, and all taxes & coach tours.

Sample Itinerary from previous year:
 
10th July, Monday:
Time to be set: 
Arrival at airport and transfer to Domus Pacis when all pilgrims from 4 airports arrive 
 
11th July, Tuesday:
8h00 Breakfast
9h00 Opening mass at Chapel of St Jose (Basilica of Our Lady the Rosary) – Presidency Fr. Jason
Tour of sanctuary and free time 
Free Lunch
16h00 Talk Nuno and Ana at Domus Pacis
19h30 Dinner
21h30 Rosary and Candlelight procession
 
12th July, Wednesday:
8h00 Breakfast
9h30: Visit of the museum of Fr. Formigão and Holy Mass – Presidency Fr. Jason
Free time for lunch 
19h30 Dinner
21h30 Evening participation at international vigil 
 
13th July, Thursday:
8h00 Breakfast
9h00 International Rosary and Mass 
Free time for Lunch
16h00: Visit of the museum of Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta (House of Candles – Postulation centre)
18h30 Evening mass at Domus Pacis Chapel 
19h30 Dinner
21h30 Rosary and Candlelight procession
 
14th July, Friday:
8h00 Breakfast
9h15 Departure to stations of the cross
9h30 Stations of the Cross
11h30 Mass at St. Stephen’s Chapel – Presidency Fr. Jason
Continuation to Aljustrel and St Anthony’s Church with renewal of baptismal promises 
Free time for Lunch
18h00 Holy hour at the Angel of Peace Chapel – Presidency Fr. Jason
19h30 Dinner
21h30 Rosary and Candlelight procession
 
15th July, Saturday:
6h00 Early Mass at the Chapel of the Apparitions  – Presidency Fr. Jason
8h00 Breakfast
Free day for optional tour to Lisbon or Nazaré 
19h30 Dinner
21h30 Rosary and Candlelight procession. One person of the group is to recite the 1st part of the 4th mystery in English language
 
16th July, Sunday:
8h00 Breakfast
11h00 International Mass at Shrine of Fatima
Free time 
18h30 Rosary benediction and enrolment in brown scapular at Domus Pacis chapel 
19h30 Dinner
21h30 Rosary and Candlelight procession
 
17th July, Monday:
Early Mass Domus Pacis 
Breakfast 

Time to be set: Departure Lisbon Airport

The pilgrimage costs £475 for 7 nights half board – excluding flights and travel insurance, or £630 with single supplement if required. 

The booking form is available here:

The deadline for bookings is:

A poster with more details is available here:

Please contact us for more details.

Fatima is one of the most important Marian pilgrimage centres in the world, and its message has assumed even more prominence since the canonisation of Francisco and Jacinta by Pope Francis in May 2017.

At the Mass in St. Peter’s on 13th May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI expressed the hope that the message of Fatima will be “increasingly accepted, understood and lived in every community.”

On this pilgrimage, you will experience the beauty and presence of Our Lady in her wonderful shrine, a place filled with peace, light and the spirit of prayer, and will visit the holy places associated with it: the village of Aljustrel where the shepherd children lived, the Loca da Cabeco where the Angel appeared to them leaving the Eucharist suspended in the air above a chalice, and the parish church, where the children were baptised and the statue of Our Lady smiled at Lucia. 

On the evening of the twelfth there is the touching candlelight Rosary and procession of Our Lady round the great square, and on the thirteenth the moving international Mass, when the original statue of Our Lady, accompanied by priests and bishops, is processed to the altar and back, carried shoulder high on a bier covered with flowers, while the people sing beautiful Portuguese hymns in her honour. 

You will also be given information about the different requests in Our Lady’s message and how we can respond to her appeals for the salvation of souls. It is for this reason that her message has been so highly commended by the popes. 

You can read feedback from past pilgrims here.

Promoting the Pilgrimage

Domus Pacis dining room

If you would like to help us promote the pilgrimage, ask the parish priest if he would agree to display our poster in his church. See above for the poster & itinerary links.

Another effective method of promoting the pilgrimage is to email the parish priest a few lines about it, which we can supply or undertake on your behalf, and ask if he would kindly agree to include the notice in his parish bulletin.

History of National Pilgrimage

For many of the years since October 1982, the World Apostolate of Fatima England and Wales has organised an annual pilgrimage to Fatima, in July, usually flying from London Heathrow, although they were by coach in the early days.

The original pilgrimages were organised by George Donovan, past president of the WAF in this country, and Mike Daley, and then Terry Walsh was the pilgrimage organiser for several years. Fr John Edwards SJ led some of the pilgrimages before Fr George Dangerfield was appointed spiritual director for a short period prior to the 1996 pilgrimage. Canon Gerry O’Brien and Mgr Tom Fallon accompanied several of the pilgrimages at this time.

In 1997, Mgr Fallon became the spiritual director of the World Apostolate, and was closely involved in the pilgrimage until his death in September 2011, when Fr Gerard Kelly of St Francis church in Handsworth, Birmingham took over. Mike Daley organised the pilgrimage for over twenty years, and has been assisted by Brigid McKenna in Birmingham, who took over from Joan Walker after her death.

Canon Jason Jones, the new WAF England and Wales Spiritual Director, will be organising future pilgrimages.


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