Pilgrimage to Spain
Dominican Retreat – Pilgrimage to Spain – Visiting the great Dominican houses of Castilla y Leon
We are pleased to advertise the following pilgrimage retreat organised by a third party, Retreats Beyond Dover, with the participation of Dominicans. Please note that this is not organised nor managed by the English Province of the Order of Preachers.
Booking now for 14 – 23 SEPTEMBER 2024
WITH FR JOHN FARRELL O.P. (Chaplain, Retreat giver) and DR FERNANDO CERVANTES (Lecturer; Historian, University of Bristol)
PRICE £2100 – Ensuite, Full Board – No Single-Room Supplements
Visiting
- Zamora, for the Convent of Las Dueñas
- Toro, for the Convent of Sancti Spiritus
- Caleruega, Burgos, birthplace of St.Dominic
- Salamanca, for the Convent of San Esteban
- Valladolid, for the Convent of San Pablo
- Avila, for the Convent of Santo Tomás
- Peña de Francia for the Dominican Sanctuary, the highest in Europe
How to Book
Booking forms will be sent to all Lay Dominican fraternities in England and Wales.
Alternatively, please contact the retreat organiser:
Anthony Weaver, Flat 19,G, Peabody, Wild Street, Covent Garden, London WC2B 4BQ
Telephone: 0207 379 7273 Email: retreatsdover@gmail.com
Booking forms must be accompanied by a deposit of £200. This deposit can only be refunded in the event of our retreat-pilgrimage being cancelled by the organisers.
The balance of retreat fees is not due until 6th July 2024.
Bank transfer payments: Account: A.J.Weaver Sort Code: 56 00 20
Branch: Chancery Lane Account number: 30811554
Full joining instructions and a reading list will be posted to people about one month before departure.
Itinerary
Saturday 14 September 2024
BA Flight 462 departs London Heathrow Terminal 5 at 14.40 arriving at Madrid Barajas at 18.05
Monday 23 September 2024
BA Flight 465 departs Madrid Barajas at 20.50, arriving at Heathrow Terminal 5 at 22.10
Accommodation
Our base for all nine nights will be the historic Seminary of San Atilano in the heart of the ancient cathedral city of Zamora, famous for its numerous Romanesque churches. With senior seminarians now housed in Salamanca, San Atilano has been renovated to a very good modern standard, with all rooms ensuite, as the Casa de la lglesia for the diocese.
Programme
ln addition to our full programme of liturgies and talks with Fr. John and lectures by Dr. Fernando, we will enjoy excursions in our private coach to the great Dominican centres of Castilla y Leon. We will also seize opportunities to “plug into” the liturgical and cultural life of Zamora diocese whenever possible.
Please note that the retreat fees quoted are based on a group of at least 20 people and on rates of currency exchange in November 2023. ln the event of major changes in rates of exchange and if our group were to number fewer than 20 people, we reserve the right to make a modest increase in fees, to avoid making a loss.
Meals
Our lunches will all be taken together and all our dinners will be served in our base at the Seminary of San Atilano in Zamora.
Please note that in Spain, lunch is traditionally the main meal of the day, with dinner a somewhat lighter meal.
John Farrell is a Dominican friar and priest. Born in Yorkshire in 1950 he entered the Order in 1972 after a history degree at York. His formation took place at Blackfriars Oxford and Edinburgh University. His doctorate was in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Aquinas. He has been parish priest in London and Newcastle and held many positions within the English Province of the Order: prior at London, Oxford, Newcastle, Novice Master, Student Master and Lector. From 2008-2016 he was Prior Provincial. He has taught in four seminaries and his work has been to be a bridge between the academic and the pastoral in the Church: teaching seminarians, Dominicans, Franciscans and Benedictines; and forming lay people for parish service in Westminster, Southwark and Hexham and Newcastle dioceses. At present he is based at Holy Cross Leicester and is involved in giving retreats.
Fernando Cervantes is an historian of early modern Europe, with a special interest in the intellectual, cultural and religious history of Spain and Spanish America. Born in Mexico City, where he attended the Jesuit School, ‘lnstituto Patria’, he moved to the United Kingdom with his family in 1972 and read for a degree in History at Oxford University, graduating in 1981. He returned to Mexico City, where he attended El Colegio de Mexico as a doctoral student before venturing back to the UK in 1985, where he completed his PhD in Cambridge University in 1989. He joined Bristol University the year after, where he has taught European and Latin American History ever since. He has held visiting positions at the institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, UCLA, UCSB, and the Liguria Study Centre in Bogliasco, ltaly. He has published widely in the intellectual, cultural and religious history of early modern Europe and Spanish America and is currently engaged in completing a history of Spain from pre-history to the transition to democracy. He made his full profession as a Lay Dominican in 2012.
