Pascua Florida Pilgrimage
2021 Pascua Florida Pilgrimage arriving at St. Augustine Brigde of Lions.
2025 PASCUA FLORIDA PILGRIMAGE™ APRIL 22-27
Important Forms
Release of Liability Form for Minors>
Contact: pilgrimage@stmpa.net for information, registration, and sponsorship
Pilgrimage Route
St. Thomas More Church, Sanford, FL to Mission Nombre de Dios and the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche in St. Augustine. Walk 78 miles and canoe 24 miles / or full walk option of 110 miles. Begins Tuesday, April 22nd, with 7:30 a.m. Mass. Ends Sunday, April 27th, with noon Mass followed by lunch at the Shrine.
Pilgrimage Purpose
The pilgrimage threefold devotion is to the Holy Mass, Our Lady of La Leche, and the Floridian Martyrs. The Mission Nombre de Dios is the site of the first recorded Mass in this country in 1565, and the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche is on its grounds. The Mission and the Shrine are the destinations of the pilgrimage. From the 16th-18th centuries numerous martyrs gave their lives for the Faith throughout the state of Florida, and some were martyred close to and possibly along the very pilgrimage route.
Most of the martyrs in North America started their journeys from Mission Nombre de Dios. It is the oldest known site of the first recorded Mass in North America, celebrated by Father Francisco Lopez on September 8th, 1565, upon the founding of the city of St. Augustine. Following this Mass, the very first Thanksgiving was offered to the Natives.
Situated on the Mission grounds is the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, that is the first Marian sanctuary erected in this country. Our Lady of La Leche is especially invoked by couples wishing to have children. By this pilgrimage, prayers have been answered, and many couples, previously unable to conceive, have been blessed with “La Leche Babies.”
On October 10th, 2021, Pope Francis, granted a canonical coronation to Our Lady of LaLeche, further sanctifying devotion to this title. The statue of Our Lady of LaLeche is the fourth statue in the Unites States to receive the canonical coronation.
SPONSORSHIP
Many SSPX priests, seminarians, and Brothers will walk and canoe the pilgrimage. Join the pilgrimage in spirit by sponsoring them, so that in return they will journey and gain for you the blessings of the pilgrimage and present your intentions to Our Lady of La Leche. Full cost of sponsorship is $450. Partial sponsorship is also welcome. Sponsorship greatly defrays the costs of the pilgrimage so that it may continue in the future. Thank you very much!
Sponsorship Form>
PILGRIM REGISTRATION FORM and Pilgrimage Information: Click here:
Release of Liability for Minors>
A Public Profession of the Catholic Faith: “I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the race, I have kept the Faith” 2 Timothy 4:7.
April 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon landed on the northeast coast of Florida and planted the first cross in the sand. The early heroic martyrs endured deplorable conditions bringing the Faith to native Indians and ministering to the settlers. Modern day Catholics may not face death of body, but the irreligious atmosphere cries for evangelization! Come walk the path of the Martyrs!
What is a Pilgrimage?
A pilgrimage is a public profession of our Catholic Faith. It is not a vacation, but a time to focus on spiritual life. Daily Mass, spiritual reflection, penance, prayer, meditation, intercession, thanksgiving, communal prayer and fellowship are a few of the spiritual goals. This pilgrimage is an act of adoration to God, a good penance to help for the redemption of sin and sanctification, a token of thanksgiving for many graces, and a begging for our numerous spiritual and material needs.
The pilgrimage is a journey from home to a sacred place in order to find God. The physical movement accompanies a similar spiritual conversion: detachment from self in order to reach God.
The pilgrimage is the Christian life in miniature: one abandons home, routine, habits, and preoccupations in order to move towards God, either alone or with the help of others. In this movement, each step, even each stop is an approach towards the goal: the attainment of God by the gift of self in sacrifice.
The Church has always encouraged pilgrimages as tremendous opportunities for conversion. She has done so by multiplying shrines in all parts of the world and attaching many indulgences to pilgrimages made thereto.
Why are we Pilgrims?
“I still do not know why I left, what was the reason that launched me on the roads, but I had to leave, it is an imperious need that came,” say most pilgrims starting on the road. Long ago, they wanted to do it and intimately, but without a clear understanding in their heart, they desired “to meet God.”
A pilgrimage is more than traveling. One first leaves comfortable daily routine to walk and to place himself inwardly in relation to God. Human beings are pilgrims on earth. The decision to walk is personal and allows them to rejoin physically that spiritual state of man who walks towards his eternal destiny.
Walking is down to earth, and yet this walk leads us to the gates of Heaven. For a time, the pilgrim puts himself in a state of voluntary poverty. Disconnect from this harassing world! Forget the accessories! Walk! Far from vain daily preoccupations, move your body and free your mind to find God in His simplicity.
Why the Pascua Florida Pilgrimage?
In the year of Our Lord 1513, Ponce de Leon discovered Florida and planted the Cross in its sands. Soon after the Spanish founded the oldest city of the United States: Saint Augustine.
On September 8, 1565, the first Mass ever celebrated on what is now U.S. soil was officiated by Fr. Francisco Lopez - on the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady. With Our Lord Jesus Christ, the missionaries brought His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and erected her first shrine in these lands, Our Lady of La Leche. Mothers from everywhere come to her in order to receive the gift of life and safe delivery, oftentimes bringing their newborn to her in thanksgiving at a later time.
Between 1549 and 1706 eighty-six Native Americans, priests and religious, men, women, and children were martyred for the Faith in this part of the country. In this lies one of the greatest reasons for the sacredness of the goal of this pilgrimage.