Youth pilgrimage to Franciscan history

ROME, Italy (VID) - From July 17 to August 1, 2004 a group of about 30 French youths will be led by friars, Sisters and Secular Franciscans on an itinerary that will bring them to the principal historical places where the Franciscan movement was born.  
 
The pilgrimage was announced in the last issue of "Fraternitas", the O.F.M. newsletter published by the General Curia in Rome.  
 
The desire to spend more time in silence visiting the places where St. Francis of Assisi was born and lived led the Directors of the French Franciscan Youth Ministry to plan the "March-Retreat to Assisi". The pilgrimage will depart from La Verna, where the Saint of Assisi received the stigmata in consonance with its theme: "Francis, Impassioned of God."  
 
The small caravan will move around the Rieti Valley for a week visiting the four Franciscan sanctuaries: Greccio, Fontecolombo, La Foresta and Poggio Bustone. They will stay two days in each place.
 
The pilgrimage will be organized according to particular themes and reflections on biblical and Franciscan texts. The group of young French pilgrims will depart on July 17 from the railway station in Nice, France to reach La Verna and end up in Assisi on August 1.