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Pilgrimage Tours

Pilgrimage Tours

Poland pilgrimage tour. The traces of St.Maximilian Kolbe and St Faustina

Come along with us on an unforgettable pilgrimage tour and follow the footsteps of the Polish Saints: St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Faustina

St. Maximilian Kolbe
He was born in 1894 in Zduńska Wola into a poor but devout Christian family. At the age of 16, he entered the novitiate of the Franciscan Friars. He later studied in Rome, where he was ordained a priest in 1918.
He was the founder of Niepokalanów, which was the largest Franciscan congregation in the world at that time. On 28 May 1941, Kolbe was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp, where he gave his life in the place of another prisoner. After a lengthy period of agony in the starvation cell, Kolbe was murdered with an injection of phenol. Before his death, he told the Nazi doctor administering the fatal injection: “Hate serves nothing. Only love is creative!”
He was canonized on 10 October 1982 by Pope John Paul II. 

St. Faustina Kowalska 
Born in 1905 into a very devout but poor family in a small village called Głogowiec. As early as seven years old she felt a calling to the monastic life. In 1925 she was received into the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw. Faustina was a mystic who had many visions of Christ. Jesus entrusted her with the mission of proclaiming to the whole world the truth of Divine Mercy. He conveyed to her His will that a Feast of Divine Mercy shall be instituted on the first Sunday after Easter, and he bade her paint a reproduction of her vision, which she was to furnish with the inscription: “Jesu, I trust in You”.
St. Faustina died in Krakow in 1938 at the age of 33, of tuberculosis. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000. 

Trip Highlights:

  • Visit to St. Stanislaw Kostka Church
  • Visit to Niepokolanow, home of St Maximilian Kolbe
  • Visit to Glogowiec birthplace of St Faustina, where Jesus appeared to her in 1931 
  • Visit to the Pauline Monastery at Jasna Gora in Czestochowa - the Polish Lourdes
  • Visit to the cell of St. Maximilian Kolbe in Auschwitz 
  • Visit to the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy of God

Itinerary:

Day 1 Warsaw
afternoon
Arrival in Warsaw, meeting with the tour leader at the airport, transfer to your hotel.
evening Dinner and overnight in Warsaw.

Day 2 Warsaw
morning & afternoon Full day sightseeing of Warsaw - including Old Town Market Square, Royal CastleSt. John Cathedral, Barbican. Drive to Lazienki Park and Chopin Monument, afterward a visit to St Stanislaw Kostka Church where the famous Polish priest, killed by communists, Jerzy Popieluszko used to work - Holy Mass at the church.
evening Dinner. Overnight in Warsaw.

Day 3 Warsaw - Niepokalanow - Glogowiec - Czestochowa
morning Visit to Jewish Ghetto and the infamous Umschlagplatz from which Polish Jews were dispatched by Nazis to Treblinka concentration camp. Departure from Warsaw and drive to Niepokolanow, home of St Maximilian Kolbe.
afternoon Journey continues to Glogowiec birthplace of St Faustina, where Jesus appeared to her in 1931 and requested she painted the picture of his Divine Mercy. Drive to Czestochowa.
evening Dinner and overnight in Czestochowa.

Day 4 Czestochowa - Auschwitz - Krakow
morning Visit Jasna Gora Monastery, Poland’s biggest pilgrimage place known as the Black Madonna Shrine, worshipped and frequently visited by Pope John Paul II during his several pilgrimages to his home country. Holy mass in the Pauline Monastery.
afternoon Drive to the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz and visit to the cell of St Maximilian Kolbe and Martyrdom Museum.
evening Dinner and overnight in Krakow.

Day 5 Kraków - Lagiewniki
morning
 Guided tour of Krakow including the Old Town with its Market Square (the largest medieval square in Europe) where you can listen to the famous signal that is played every hour from the tower of St. Mary’ Church (visit to its altar - one of the largest Gothic altar in Europe). In this church Karol Wojtyla was a confessor from 1952 until 1957). Continue on to the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), Jagiellonian University - where Karol Wojtyla was studying, Collegium Maius, the Wawel Castle with its cathedral (presenting rich Polish history) - in a crypt of Saint Leonard young Karol Wojtyla celebrated his first Mass where he took as his motto “Totus Tuus”. On the program also: the Palace of the Krakow’s Archbishops where John Paul II lived as the bishop and archbishop of Krakow, the Franciscan Church - opposite the Archbishop’s palace where the Pope often came to pray.
afternoon “The world needs the love of God”. Visit to the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy of God.
The Pope during his stay in Poland in August 2002 proclaimed the International Shrine of Divine Mercy. Next to the old church where the sister Saint Faustina is buried, rises a new basilica. Near the basilica, there is the highest point of Krakow, a tower of over 80m height. The largest mass is held on the second Sunday after Easter, the Sunday of Divine Mercy.
A Holy Mass in the chapel.
evening Dinner and overnight in Krakow.

Day 6 Krakow - Kalwaria Zebrzydowska - Wadowice - Wieliczka - Krakow
morning
 Drive to the Bernardine Monastery in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. An area of 43 chapels and shrines scattered on only 4 km distance honoring the Way of the Cross, the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary and the Seven Sorrows of Mary. About midday visit to Wadowice, the birthplace of Karol Wojtyla, our former Holy Father.
afternoon An extraordinary visit to Europe’s oldest Salt Mines in Wieliczka - exploring many of the underground chambers, chapels and the stunning St Kinga Chapel entirely cut and carved in salt.
evening Dinner and overnight in Krakow.

Day 7 Krakow
morning Hotel check-out and departure transfer to the airport.

Services included:

  • 2 night's accommodation in Warsaw in a hotel chosen by you on bed and breakfast basis
  • 1 night's accommodation in Czestochowa in a hotel chosen by you on bed and breakfast basis
  • 3 night's accommodation in Krakow in a hotel chosen by you on bed and breakfast basis
  • All transfers as per above mentioned itinerary
  • Private English speaking guide as per the itinerary
  • Entrance fees for all sightseeing
  • Meals as per the itinerary

Services not included:

  • The journey to and from Poland
  • Tour guide 
  • Public transport
  • Insurance
  • Personal expenditure, tips, etc.
  • All other services not mentioned in the itinerary

Price on request.

For more information about the above pilgrimage tour to Poland tailored specifically to your needs, please fill out our free no-obligation online form. A member of our team will respond via email or phone within one business day.