A Saints Pilgrimage, with Two Notre Dame Student Leaders

Arising from the McGrath Institute for Church Life, the Sullivan Undergraduate Saints Fellowship forms Notre Dame students as leaders in the study and spirituality of the saints. We launched this fellowship in 2025 with an inaugural cohort of 12 students selected from a pool of many, many applicants. As part of their fellowship, our saints fellows completed a course this past semester (with yours truly) on praying with the saints. Next year they will become leaders of other undergraduate students, as they form groups of students who pray together and serve together in a manner common to a saint each fellow selects. But in between the course they complete and the year of leadership they undertake, the whole cohort of 12 fellows, along with me and a chaplain, make a pilgrimage to immerse ourselves in the cultures that gave rise to particular saints––cultures which, in turn, these saints renewed and enriched. This year’s pilgrimage was to France, specifically: Paris, Chartres, Lisieux, LeMans, Tours, and Lourdes. Today, two of our Sullivan Undergraduate Saints Fellows join me to talk about the meaning and significance of this pilgrimage with the saints. Macy Vance is a rising junior and Kate Apelian is a rising senior at Notre Dame, but really I should let them introduce themselves.Follow-up Resources:Learn more about the Sullivan Undergraduate Saints FellowshipCheck out the wildly popular “Saturdays with the Saints” lecture series“Pilgrimage and the Urgent Question of Faith,” by Leonard J. DeLorenzo, essay in the Church Life Journal“A pilgrimage of sacred art,” by Leonard J. DeLorenzo, article in Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly“Saints who flew, with Carlos Eire,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Encountering Christ on Pilgrimage, with Joan Watson,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Saints, for Real, with Meg Hunter-Kilmer,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“The Theology of the Saints, with Katie Cavadini and Leonard DeLorenzo,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.