Fr. Farrar's pilgrimage to St. John Paul II's birthplace and final resting place. Check out videos from his trip below
October 26
October 30
October 28
November 1 & 2
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October 25
October 27
October 29
October 31
October 25th
Mass at St. Mary's Basilica
St. Mary's Basilica was built in the 14th century in the Polish Gothic style. Archbishop Karol Wojtyla lived around the corner from the Basilica for twelve years.
October 26
Mass at the Wawel Cathedral
The Wawel Cathedral was first built in the 11th century, and served as the church and cathedral for the Polish monarchy for centuries. It was Archbishop Karol Wojtyla's Cathedral from 1962 - 1978.
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October 27
Visit St. John Paul II's birthplace and boyhood parish in Wadowice
Karol Wojtyla was born in this house in Wadowice on May 18, 1920. He continued to live in the house even after his mother's death, until he moved to Krakow with his father in 1938 to attend university.
October 28
Visit and Mass at Our Lady of Czestochowa
Tradition holds that St. Luke the Evangelist painted Our Lady of Czestochowa, and we have written records of the icon's existence as early as the 5th century A.D. St. John Paul II fostered a strong devotion to Our Lady of Czestochowa his whole life, and went out of his way to visit the Shrine on his first trip to Poland as pope in 1979.
October 29
Divine Mercy Shrine
This is the chapel where St. Faustina's community would pray, and the side altar hosts the miraculous image that Our Lord asked her to have painted. When St. John Paul II canonized St. Faustina and established the second Sunday of Easter as Diving Mercy Sunday, he said that it was the happiest day of his life, since he had desired to promote this devotion for decades.
October 30
Auschwitz
The infamous concentration camp is where St. Maximillian Kolbe, one of the first Saints canonized by St. John Paul II, was killed. The pope visited St. Maximilian Kolbe's cell in the camp to invoke his intercession.
October 31
Mass at Basilica of the Holy Trinity
The Basilica of the Holy Trinity is run by the Dominicans of Krakow, who helped guide Karol Wojtyla's spiritual and intellectual formation as a university student.
November 1-2
St. Peter's Basilica and JPII's Tomb in Rome
St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City was the center of St. John Paul II's spiritual activity during his 26 year tenure as pope. Upon his death in April 2005, he was buried in the grottoes beneath the Basilica. After his beatification on Divine Mercy Sunday in 2011, his body was moved into the main church of the Basilica.
