This summer, I had an incredible opportunity to go on a pilgrimage to Italy with the Saint Francis Xavier Chaplaincy from Calgary. The primary motivation for this pilgrimage was the Jubilee of Youth in Rome, held from July 28 to August 3.
However, despite most of the events being in Rome, our pilgrimage group decided to try to visit many other places in Italy as well. We were able to spend time in 13 different cities across Italy, among them Turin, Padua, Assisi, Florence, and, of course, Rome itself. In many of these cities, we saw some of the most incredible architecture, art, and relics of the Church’s greatest saints. These churches were among the most magnificent expressions of Christian faith across the millennia.
Many of them were built over hundreds of years and worked on by thousands of people to glorify God and help future generations join in that praise. They ranged from the towering grand structure of St. Peter’s Basilica to small country parishes well-loved by small communities for many years.
Since returning home, one thing people keep asking is, “Do you miss it?” or “Don’t you wish all our churches looked like those?”
However, one of the greatest graces I received through this experience was quite the opposite. It was in the midst of seeing these beautiful churches that I realized the grace active in my own community and saw God’s work.
We may not have a marble Baroque church on par with St. John Lateran, but we have the same foundation that built that church: we have the gift of faith in Jesus Christ.
In my pilgrimage group, fifty young adults were on fire with faith. They wanted nothing more than to spend two weeks in Rome during the hottest and busiest week of the year, just to see their Holy Father and to pray where saints prayed.
My favourite part of the whole pilgrimage was celebrating the Holy Mass with these fine people in these beautiful places, because it was only then that these incredible buildings – perhaps the most remarkable things ever made by human hands – were complete. It was only in light of the people’s faith that these places made sense, and their beauty truly shone.
This faith is very much alive in Canada, as it is and has been in Italy. This is the true treasure of the Church, and it must be fostered and cared for so that it can bear fruit like the beautiful churches and the art seen in Rome. The greatest grace of my pilgrimage was that it helped open my eyes to what we already have here at home. We may not possess the grandeur of St. Peter’s Basilica, but we hold the pearl of great price: our living faith in Christ.
(Fr. Paul Kavanagh will preside at the Closing Mass for the Jubilee 2025 year of Hope at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 28 at St. Joseph’s Basilica. This is also the Feast of the Holy Family. All are invited to attend the Mass)
André Boudreau is a sixth-year seminarian for the Diocese of Calgary. This article was first published in the fall 2025 edition of the Exiit Qui Seminat, the St. Joseph Seminary newsletter.
