Jubilee Pilgrimage

Jesuit High School pilgrims are completing the second week of the amazing two-week Jubilee Pilgrimage!

The 73 students and 19 chaperones have been immersed in a transformational experience throughout Europe after departing on June 12, with their return flight to Tampa landing in the evening of Wednesday, June 25.

As always with the annual Jesuit pilgrimage to Europe, the pilgrims further developed in their brotherhood and faith, and they achieved the objective of pilgrimage: transformation.

Each year, however, has its own theme and unique journey through an array of amazing places, filled with visits to historic locales, religious shrines, and beautiful sites, which create many powerful and reflective occasions. And all of which results in an exhilarating and uplifting experience.

This year, perhaps moreso than ever before, the pilgrimage was documented on a daily basis on social media. Led by assistant campus minister Patrick Phelan, they posted great images and a description of each day. The primary place to scroll through their two-week experience is on Instagram, @tigerpilgrims. There are additional posts on Twitter, @TigerPilgrims.  

The pilgrims arrived in Barcelona via Frankfurt on June 13 for an unforgettable weekend in Spain. They trekked in the 16-mile footsteps of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the 16th century founder of the Society of Jesus, hiking to Montserrat and then Manresa.

Montserrat, amidst the jagged peaks of Catalonia, is where St. Ignatius famously laid down his sword before the Black Madonna. The symbolic act of dedicating his life to God marked the beginning of his spiritual transformation. Nearby in Manresa, the cradle city of the Jesuit order, the pilgrims visited the Cave of St. Ignatius, where he settled for 11 months in 1522 during his spiritual journey in the founding of the Jesuits.

Barcelona is home to some of the most recognized and inspiring Catholic churches, and the pilgrims celebrated Mass in several, including Esglesia del Sagrat Cor, and visited more, including the epic La Sagrada Familia, which has been under construction since the late 1800s.

Among the 19 chaperones/young alumni leading the pilgrimage were principal and interim president Mike Scicchitano and incoming president Fr. Vincent Giacabazi, S.J. Assistant principal for mission Jimmy Mitchell, who revived the annual pilgrimage to Europe in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions, led his final pilgrimage as a Jesuit administrator as he will be entering seminary in Nashville to begin formation toward the priesthood.

Brian Greenfield, the new assistant principal for mission, also chaperoned this pilgrimage, along with Fr. Angel Rivera Fals, S.J., Fr. Eric Ramirez, S.J., and Mr. Giovanni Diaz, S.J., and Jesuit faculty/staff Tommy Killackey, David Mammola, Kyle Fennesy, and Thomas Keith. They led their respective small groups of 8 students through each day, experiencing the extraordinary historic and religious sites (including the Roman Colosseum and the Church of the Gesu, the mother church of the Jesuits), and in small group reflection each night. 

The pilgrims always have some amazing encounters during the course of the two weeks, and this year was no exception. In Rome, they made an impression on the Catholic News Service, which posted to social media about the presence on the streets of the Eternal City of the Jesuit pilgrims from Tampa. Led by Father Giacabazi, they processed through the Vatican to the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, a special entrance that is only opened during Jubilee Years. They met a physician from Poland, who was so inspired by the encounter that she was compelled to email the school, and send a photo, of her chance meeting with the high school boys from Tampa on the streets of Rome.

In an incredible moment, they also grabbed the attention of Pope Leo XIV as he rode in the popemobile through St. Peter’s Square. The new pope, who is originally from Chicago and is the first American pope, gestured toward the Jesuit group’s large American flag that had an image of the pope layered on top of the flag.

After a stop in iconic Venice, the pilgrimage concluded this week, as it always does, with a few days of reflection in the foothills of the Austrian Alps at the Karthause in Gaming. Spelunking, hiking, swimming in Lake Erlaufsee, and a day trip to Mariazell all were part of the conclusion of the Jubilee Pilgrimage to Europe.

On Wednesday morning (June 25) they bused to Zurich and boarded Swiss Air Lines flight 8004 for the trip home to Tampa, where they will be greeted at Tampa International Airport by a huge throng of family and supporters.