FILIPINO CANADIAN PILGRIMS GROUP  VISITS 4 -CITY HOLY SITES

 
By Tony A. San Juan
Toronto-Canada
October 16, 2019
 
 


The September autumnal air started its seasonal breeze and multi- coloured leaves are almost falling in the countrysides. It's time for a break. Yes. This time,6 Pinays decided to go for a religious tour outside the Canadian landscape.

Five Filipino Canadian women from Toronto, Canada and one from USA  journeyed to 4 European cities for a holy pilgrimage. The 6 lady friends embarked on a 10-day vacation -tour for a religious respite . The women, members of the Marian Pilgrim Group, are solid devotees to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Their first stop was in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain where they prayed and visited the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia , or Sagrada Familia,  an unfinished Roman Catholic church. 

Then the pilgrims went to Lisbon, Portugal  where they paid homage to the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fatima , famous for the 1917 apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the 3 shephered children in Fatima.





Istanbul - Blue Mosque







In Lourdes, France, the tourists went to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, a Catholic shrine or grotto where a 14-year old peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous claimed had seen the Virgin Mary, and the St. Bernadette House . The Fatima shrine is famous for its miraculous healing water.





After their 3- city pilgrimage, the devotees flew to Ephesus, Turkey where they visited the House of Mary at Mount Koressos and the ancient Greek and Roman ruins of the  Library of Celsus, a UNESCO world heritage site.

 



The life-long lady barkadas are mostly professional practicing nurses in some Toronto hospitals. They are Benedicta Cabaluna, Lily O'Brien, Girlie Padillo, Marilyn Pinera, Sonia Pinera( from California, USA) and Juliet San Juan. All six readily admitted that they enjoyed their blessedful pilgrimage and memorable bonding time.