VILLA GUMONCA

This is one of our favourite pilgrimages, Patmos is an island touched by Heaven! We will take you to the beautiful islands of Greece where you can explore timeless monasteries and churches. This trip promises to be a fun, relaxing and enriching experience in the most special of places.

First established in 1989 by Franciscan priests, the Medjugorje Youth Festival (also know as 'Mladifest') is a yearly celebration to mark the birthday of the Virgin Mary for young Catholics. Every year thousands of young pilgrims join together in the small town for prayer, music, processions and pilgrimage of the Marion apparitions. In June 1981, the Virgin Mary appeared as a vision to several schoolchildren in Medjugorje, a town located in the Herzegovina region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, since then, Catholics worldwide have made the pilgrimage to the site now known for its unique atmosphere of prayer and serenity as well as miraculous happenings.

Inigo Lopez de Onaz y Loyola was born in the Castle of Loyola in the Basque country in North East Spain in 1491. He was one of 13 children born to a noble family and as a young man had ideas of chivalry, love and knighthood. In 1521 he was severely wounded by a cannonball during the Battle of Pamplona. During his recuperation in Loyola he had a vision of Our Lady with the Christ Child and experienced true compassion and a spiritual conversion. He began a journey to Jerusalem so that he could "kiss the earth where our Lord had walked". He founded the Jesuit Order and developed The Spiritual Exercises.