Belleville — A group of 17 Holy Year Pilgrims, including five clergy from this Diocese, will leave Sunday morning, March 12, for a two-week air tour to Rome and other points in Europe.

Arranged by Thomas Cook and Son travel agency of St. Louis, the tour will include stops in Ireland, London, Lourdes, Paris, and a one-week stay in Rome. The group will return to the Diocese on Thursday, March 30.  They are the first from Southern Illinois to make the Holy Year Pilgrimage.

Leaving from Lambert Field, St. Louis, at 10:30 Sunday morning, the group will be flown to New York where they will board an American Overseas strato-cruiser about 3 p.m. Monday afternoon for the trans-Atlantic flight by the northern route. Points touched will be Gander and Shannon before transferring at London for the second leg of the flight to Rome.

The group will spend a week in Rome and will be privileged to be in the Vatican for the Laetare Sunday ceremony marking mid-Lent.

From Rome the tour will take the visitors to the famed Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France and several days will be spent in Paris.