On Monday, the Shrine’s Executive Director, Rob Judge, joined forty-five pilgrims as they began the Camino of Maryland, a 14-day, 214-mile walking pilgrimage from Point Lookout, MD to the Seton Shrine.<\/p>\n
This is the second year for this walk that takes pilgrims to parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Washington, DC and Baltimore.<\/p>\n
Among the highlights of the Camino are stopovers at St. Clemens Island, MD \u2014 the site of the first Catholic Mass celebrated in the English-speaking American Colonies \u2014 and the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the reality of the length of this route sets in, I focus on the prayer requests I\u2019m carrying and I\u2019m reminded that this walk is not about me, but about God\u2019s glory in the ordinary,\u201d said Camino pilgrim Corinne Coppola.<\/p>\n
A second pilgrimage, Footsteps of Mother Seton, begins June 19 and ends \u2014 along with the Camino of Maryland \u2014 on June 22 at the Seton Shrine on the Feast of Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n
The pilgrims will travel 55 miles walking along the same path Mother Seton took from Baltimore to Emmitsburg in 1809.<\/p>\n
The route begins at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption in Baltimore, includes stops at Jubilee sites, and features evening programs at Sacred Heart parish in Glyndon, MD and St. John\u2019s in Westminster, MD.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are literally going to walk where she walked and prayerfully reflect on her journey, life, and legacy. There is no better time to connect with the first American-born saint and each other. And there is no better way to be inspired by her,\u201d said Rob Judge.<\/p>\n
The Camino of Maryland and the Footsteps of Mother Seton pilgrimages are initiatives designed to spread devotion to Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of her canonization this year.<\/p>\n