9-Day Choir Tour | England in the Footsteps of Saint John Henry Newman
Cambridge | Walsingham | Birmingham | Stratford | Oxford | London
Performance Venues:
- Sung Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham
- Sung Mass at Birmingham Oratory in Birmingham
- Sung Mass at the Church of St. Gregory the Great in Stratford-upon-Avon
- Sung Mass at the Church of Saints Gregory and Augustine in Oxford
- Concert at Brompton Oratory in London
All concert venues, Sung Masses, and performances are subject to confirmation. This itinerary can be customized or modified to include additional venues for choirs and performance groups, as well as daily liturgies for Roman Catholic groups if so desired.
Customize your itinerary by adding other U.K. cities or an extension to Ireland.
10-Day Itinerary
- Day 1 | Depart for England
- Day 2 | Arrive in London | Cambridge
- Welcome to London! Upon arrival, continue to Cambridge and enjoy a walking tour of the famous university. Visit the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, commemorating the Catholic martyrs executed in England between 1535 and 1681. Celebrate Mass at the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs.
Day 3 | Walsingham | Birmingham- Proceed to Walsingham and visit England’s Anglican and Catholic Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Visit the “Holy House” and the Slipper Chapel. Sung Mass at the shrine. Continue to Birmingham.
- Day 4 | Birmingham | Maryvale
- Tour Birmingham Oratory, founded by Saint John Henry Newman in 1849, and the National Shrine of Cardinal Newman, where he lived and wrote his famous defenses of Catholic Christianity. Sung Mass at Birmingham Oratory. Continue to Maryvale, where Cardinal Newman founded the English Oratory of St. Philip Neri in 1848. Visit the Oratory and Britain’s first public shrine to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
- Day 5 | Stratford | Blenheim Palace | Oxford
- Visit Stratford-upon-Avon, home of William Shakespeare, and visit the sites associated with his life. Sung Mass at the Church of St. Gregory the Great. Journey through the picturesque rolling hills of the Cotswolds to Oxford. En route, stop to visit Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.
Day 6 | Wolvercote Cemetery | Oxford- Visit Wolvercote Cemetery, the final resting place of J.R.R. Tolkien. Sung Mass at the Church of Saints Gregory and Augustine. Enjoy a highlight tour of Oxford, visiting the grave of C.S. Lewis at Holy Trinity Church, St. Bede’s Hall, Trinity College, Christ Church Cathedral, and St. Clement’s Church. Stop in Littlemore, where Saint John Henry Newman lived for four years. Free afternoon to explore Oxford on your own.
- Day 7 | Windsor | London
- Celebrate Mass at the Oxford Oratory Church of St. Aloysius Gonzaga. Continue to London, with a stop en route to visit Royal Windsor, seeing the town, the royal state apartments, and St. George’s Chapel. Upon arrival in London, visit Westminster Abbey.
Day 8 | Highlights of London | Lunchtime Concert- Enjoy a highlight tour of London, including the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, Nelson’s Column, Piccadilly Circus, London Eye, and Buckingham Palace. Continue to the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, known as Brompton Oratory, the second largest Catholic Church in London. Present a lunchtime concert at Brompton Oratory. Visit Tyburn Convent and Shrine, dedicated to the Catholic martyrs of the Reformation. Prayer and reflection at the Altar of the Martyrs. See St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, and the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula. Farewell dinner at a restaurant near Trafalgar Square.
- Day 9 | Return Home