The Chesterton Academy of Rochester is a classical high school grounded in the Catholic faith. It is part of the Chesterton Schools Network, which includes 71 classical high schools around the world.
CSN provides group pilgrimage opportunities for students with the aim of helping students recognize the true, imitate the good and adore the beautiful, falling in love with the source of all three, God himself.
Nine students and three chaperones from Chesterton Academy of Rochester joined other Chesterton Schools from across the country for a pilgrimage to Rome during Holy Week and Easter Sunday, then spent Monday through Friday of Easter week in Florence and Assisi.
The Rochester pilgrims were joined with pilgrims from Chesterton Academies in Buffalo; Detroit and Jackson, Mich.; Sacramento and Menlo Park, Calif.; Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wis.; Dayton, Ohio; Philadelphia, Pa.; Pensacola and Orlando, Fla.; and Fort Wayne, Ind., for a total of 131 in the group.
Piazza San Pietro in front of St. Peter’s Basilica ahead of Easter Mass. (Photo courtesy of Michael Hayes)
Following Mass, the pilgrims received a blessing from and a “mobile” audience with Pope Leo XIV. (Photo courtesy of Michael Hayes)
Inside the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the earliest churches in Rome. (Photo courtesy of Michael Hayes)
A view of Florence, Italy. (Photo courtesy of Michael Hayes)
Chapel of the Transito, and the cell below it where St. Francis of Assisi died. (Photo courtesy of Michael Hayes)
