New Orleans Food Tour with Tour of Faith
New Orleans, also known as the Crescent City, appeals to Catholic Pilgrims in various ways and has inspired many world-famous artists, authors, and musicians throughout its 300 years of existence! This charming city of old-world charm and architecture, legendary hospitality and music, and distinctive culture and cuisine, also has a long history permeated by the Catholic faith. Catholicism continues to be a source of enrichment for those who visit or call New Orleans home, and the city is blessed with a number of renowned Catholic shrines. Join us on this Food and Faith Journey to New Orleans as we visit the Shrines and Sacred Sites, and inspire your faith in a profound way through the time-honored tradition of a Catholic pilgrimage!
Highlights include:
- Visit the Blessed Seelos Shrine, where you will see the Museum, and St. Mary’s Assumption Church, and have time to pray at the tomb of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, C.Ss.R.
- Visit the Catholic Cultural Heritage Center located at the Old Ursuline Convent where you will see the St. Lazarus Chapel & St. Mary’s Church, and the Special Exhibit on the Life and Ministry of Archbishop Philip Hannan.
- Visit the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis King of France, the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the United States, where you will see the monument to the Venerable Henriette DeLille, a free woman of color who founded the order of the Sisters of the Holy Family.
- St. Roch Cemetery tour and the Chapel containing hundreds of mementos of cures attributed to St. Roch.
- Visit the Shrine to Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (Mother Cabrini), the foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and the first U.S. Citizen to become a Saint, and see the beautiful Chapel and orphanage.
- Visit and Celebrate Mass at the National Votive Shrine to Our Lady of Prompt Succor, patroness of New Orleans.
- Taste some of the best food and drink in New Orleans.
- Visit the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.
After breakfast at your hotel, you will board your coach and head for the Old Ursuline Convent, part of what’s known as the Catholic Cultural Center, in the French Quarter. Now a Catholic museum, the old Ursuline Convent is the oldest building in the Mississippi Valley. Constructed by French Colonial engineers under the auspices of the crown, the convent was completed in 1752-1753. Over the centuries, this building has been a convent for the Ursuline nuns, various schools, the archbishops’ residence, the archdiocesan central office, and a meeting place for the Louisiana Legislature. Later it served as a residence for priests and then housed the archdiocesan archives. Today, you will enjoy a guided tour of the galleries and artifacts housed within the old convent, and have Mass in St. Mary’s Church, which is attached to the building and was originally built as the Bishop’s Chapel. After Mass, there will be a talk, followed by some time to visit the gift shop before walking to Jackson Square, where you will visit The Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis King of France, the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the United States. Inside you will see the Venerable Henriette Delille Prayer Room. Mère Henriette Delille (1812-1862) founded the Sisters of the Holy Family to care for the sick, the dying, and the orphans, and to catechize and instruct people of color, both slave and free. Enjoy lunch in a nearby restaurant 
After breakfast at your hotel, you will board your coach and head for the Seelos Center. This popular, prayerful pilgrimage site to a saintly favorite, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, is located one block off the vibrant Magazine Street dining and shopping corridor. Known as the “Cheerful Ascetic,” this Redemptorist priest possessed great mystical gifts due to his intense prayer life. Many miracles are attributed to Father Seelos’ intercession both during his life and after his death in the 1867 New Orleans yellow fever epidemic. This sanctuary of hospitality, hope, and healing is within the historic and sumptuous Saint Mary’s Assumption Church, Louisiana’s oldest German Catholic church. Enjoy a video presentation and have a chance to visit the museum and gift shop within the center, before having Mass and a talk in St. Mary’s Church. Afterward, there will be time for prayer at the tomb and relics of Blessed Seelos, before departing for the National World War II Museum for lunch. 
Mother Cabrini, Founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, arrived in New Orleans in 1892 when there was a huge influx of immigrants to America in search of a better life. Their deplorable living conditions worsened due to the yellow fever epidemics. In 1905, Mother Cabrini established the second of her two orphanages on Esplanade Avenue, along Bayou St. John. She is the Patroness of Immigrants, and today we will hear the story of her life, visit her bedroom where she lived and have Mass and a presentation in the Sacred Heart Chapel, all located on the grounds of what used to be her orphanage, now home to Cabrini High School for girls. Today we will have lunch in a nearby restaurant, 
This morning we will have an early breakfast and walk to the Immaculate Conception Church, affectionately known in New Orleans as “the Jesuit.” The distinctive Islamic design of the domes and other architectural elements throughout the church are by Fr. Cambiaso, a Jesuit priest who admired the Moorish architecture found throughout Spain at the time. Here we will celebrate our last Mass before checking out of our hotel, and heading back to the airport for our return flights home. 
