“Pilgrimage does not end but its seeds should take root in your daily discipleship and bear fruit in your lives.”
Pope Leo XIV, 24 November 2025
Pilgrimage in the Life of the Church
Pilgrimage has held a cherished place in the life of the Church from its earliest centuries. To go on pilgrimage means more than simply travelling to a holy place. It means setting out with purpose, stepping away for a time from the familiar, and making space to encounter God afresh.
Catholic pilgrimage brings together prayer, place, memory and companionship. We walk in the footsteps of generations of believers who have carried their hopes, burdens, gratitude and petitions to places made sacred by prayer and witness. Sometimes pilgrimage involves long and demanding journeys. At other times it may simply mean visiting a local shrine, holy well, church or ancient monastic site. What matters is the disposition of the heart: a willingness to seek God and to allow the experience to deepen our relationship with Christ and with one another.
There is a particular richness to pilgrimage because it engages the whole person. We pray with our feet as well as our words. We travel with others, share silence and conversation, celebrate the Sacraments, remember those for whom we have promised to pray, and become conscious that the Christian life itself is a pilgrimage towards God.
Camino de Santiago de Compostela (Way of Saint James)
Click Here to learn about the Camino de Santiago de Compostela
Pilgrimage in the Archdiocese of Armagh
Pilgrimage remains a vibrant part of the spiritual life of the Archdiocese of Armagh. Each year, people from across our parishes travel together on the Archdiocesan Pilgrimages to Lourdes, Knock and beyond, bringing with them the prayers and intentions of families, parishes and communities. These pilgrimages offer precious opportunities for prayer, friendship, service and the celebration of faith across generations.
Our pilgrimage tradition also reaches deeply into the Christian story of Ireland. For centuries people from this Archdiocese have made their way to Lough Derg, St. Brigid’s Shrine in Faughart, or the national Shrine to St. Oliver Plunkett, following in the footsteps of countless pilgrims who have sought prayer, penance, renewal and a deeper awareness of God’s presence there.
Across the Archdiocese itself we are surrounded by many places shaped by Christian faith: ancient churches, monastic foundations, holy wells, shrines and landscapes associated with St Patrick, St Brigid, St Malachy and St Oliver Plunkett, and generations of faithful women and men. They remind us that pilgrimage does not always begin with a flight or journey over long distances. Sometimes the holy place is much closer to home.
Whether travelling to Lourdes, Knock or Lough Derg, walking in the footsteps of St Patrick, or visiting one of the many sacred places within our own Archdiocese, pilgrimage invites us to come away for a while, to pray, to listen, and to return home renewed in faith and hope.
Local Pilgrimage Sites
St Brigid’s Shrine, Faughart
Ardboe Cross and St. Colman’s Abbey
Monasterboice Crosses and Monastic Site
Old Melifont Abbey
St. Monnina’s Well and Old Killeavy Graveyard
Altar Glen and Altamuskin Mass Rock, Ballygawley
Read here the book by Msgr Jim Carroll ‘ publication Pilgrimage Living in the Bigger Circle