The Friends of the Holy Father - Third decade
In the year 2000 a pilgrimage of 100 Friends of the Holy Father and Papal Knights went to Rome and the F.H.F. also helped to organize a similar pilgrimage of 100 Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, who came from around the world to a great gathering in St. Peter's where they received a warm welcome from Pope John Paul II.
In 2001 The Friends set off on pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Bernard of Claivaux, visiting Citeaux Abbey the mother house of the Cistercian Order. Clairvaux had 800 monks living there at the time of the founder's death in 1153. To Vezelay where St. Bernard preached the Second Crusade, and Pontigny the earliest intact example of a Cistercian church, where St. Thomas Becket spent six years in exile. The pilgrimage continued to the Abbey of Royaumont that was endowed by King Louis IX of France, then by an overnight sea crossing from Zeebrugge to Hull to explore several Cistercian monasteries in England, including Rievaulx, Byland and Helmsley.
Memorable annual pilgrimages followed: in 2002 to Santiago de Compostella, in 2003 to the papal city of Avignon; in 2004 to Rome that included a celebration of Mass at the newly refurbished Basilica of St Pancras, the Roman boy-martyr greatly venerated by Pope Gregory the Great. In 2005 a pilgrimage explored the papal cities in Tuscany and in 2006 to Poland with a visit to Pope John Paul II's birthplace at Wadowice. In 2007 a journey to the north of England took Friends to Northumbria to visit places connected with the Northern Saints beloved of Cardinal George Basil Hume. A journey in 2008 saw the Friends in Germany and Bavaria during which time they visited Pope Benedict XVI's birthplace at Marktl am Inn. In 2009 the pilgrimage was to the Amalfi Riviera to visit the shrine of the Apostle Andrew in Amalfi, the tomb of St. Matthew at Salerno and to Ravello, the home occupied for a time by the English Pope Adrian IV, followed by a climb to the summit of Vesuvius, then to Herculaneum that was destroyed by the volcano in AD 79. . Shortly after Pope Benedict' s Visit to Britain in Septenber 2010 the Friends were on pilgrimage to Rome to retrace the footsteps of Blessed John Henry Newman in the Eternal City, when we celebrated Mass in the Chapel in Propaganda Fide where Newman celebrated his first Mass following his ordination there as a Catholic priest in May 1846.
In 2001 The Friends set off on pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Bernard of Claivaux, visiting Citeaux Abbey the mother house of the Cistercian Order. Clairvaux had 800 monks living there at the time of the founder's death in 1153. To Vezelay where St. Bernard preached the Second Crusade, and Pontigny the earliest intact example of a Cistercian church, where St. Thomas Becket spent six years in exile. The pilgrimage continued to the Abbey of Royaumont that was endowed by King Louis IX of France, then by an overnight sea crossing from Zeebrugge to Hull to explore several Cistercian monasteries in England, including Rievaulx, Byland and Helmsley.
Memorable annual pilgrimages followed: in 2002 to Santiago de Compostella, in 2003 to the papal city of Avignon; in 2004 to Rome that included a celebration of Mass at the newly refurbished Basilica of St Pancras, the Roman boy-martyr greatly venerated by Pope Gregory the Great. In 2005 a pilgrimage explored the papal cities in Tuscany and in 2006 to Poland with a visit to Pope John Paul II's birthplace at Wadowice. In 2007 a journey to the north of England took Friends to Northumbria to visit places connected with the Northern Saints beloved of Cardinal George Basil Hume. A journey in 2008 saw the Friends in Germany and Bavaria during which time they visited Pope Benedict XVI's birthplace at Marktl am Inn. In 2009 the pilgrimage was to the Amalfi Riviera to visit the shrine of the Apostle Andrew in Amalfi, the tomb of St. Matthew at Salerno and to Ravello, the home occupied for a time by the English Pope Adrian IV, followed by a climb to the summit of Vesuvius, then to Herculaneum that was destroyed by the volcano in AD 79. . Shortly after Pope Benedict' s Visit to Britain in Septenber 2010 the Friends were on pilgrimage to Rome to retrace the footsteps of Blessed John Henry Newman in the Eternal City, when we celebrated Mass in the Chapel in Propaganda Fide where Newman celebrated his first Mass following his ordination there as a Catholic priest in May 1846.