PROVIDENCE — Passing through most of the 13 original colonies since departing St. Augustine, Florida, on May 24, the nine perpetual pilgrims following the Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini route on the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage had a front row seat to history as the nation marked the 250th anniversary of its founding.
They experienced both the buzz of big cities and contemplative silence of bucolic small towns alike up and down the Eastern Seaboard, enjoying both during their two-day stop in Rhode Island, which has been called “The Biggest Little State in the Union.”
On Wednesday, July 1, a crowd of at least 700 gathered to welcome the pilgrims to the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul for a Holy Hour.
Before Mass, the bishop, holding the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament — which traveled the entire 2,000-mile length of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, through 13 states and the District of Columbia — led a blocks-long procession through the streets of Providence to the Statehouse and back.
The pilgrims made their way into Kennedy Plaza and through Burnside Park, getting a view of Providence that many might not see in the course of their daily business or seek to avoid altogether.
But it is a view of society that the pilgrims have been well-accustomed to in their travels, and for some, this was not even their first National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.
Pilgrim Zachary Dotson saw one man among the downtrodden in the park who perked up as the procession approached.
Dotson invited him to join the procession and the man happily agreed. Even though he was raised in the Protestant faith, he came back to the cathedral to participate in the Holy Hour, where in his homily, Bishop Lewandowski spoke of how Jesus, who is always ready to carry us, is often the one we turn to when we feel unable to carry our own burdens.
“We carried Jesus through the streets of Providence tonight, but the irony of it is that he’s the one carrying us,” Bishop Lewandowski said.
He said that at some point in our lives, when we thought we couldn’t go any further, or couldn’t take the next step forward, perhaps paralyzed by fear or anxiety, perhaps feeling that the world was falling in on us, we have called out for help: “Jesus carry me.”
“His arms are never full, because he carries us all, and there’s a place and a space in that embrace that offers us help and reassurance, comfort and confidence, mercy, love, healing and forgiveness,” the bishop said.
“Jesus carried us through the streets today, and we saw people who were in need of him’” he added. “We saw people who were struggling, perhaps they don’t have family or friends, they don’t feel united to anyone, and just for a moment they feel united to us by their presence there on the sidewalk, or by the glance they gave us, or by a head bow or even a sign of the cross or genuflection, that we saw people were hungry, and perhaps from the Lord today they were fed with grace and blessings and goodness and beauty. Today we met people who felt far from the Lord, and the Lord came close to them.”
Bishop Lewandowski then broadened that theme to the nation as it pauses to mark its first 250 years. He reflected with wonder on what would happen if the whole of America carried the loving heart of Jesus.
“I hope tonight that you felt close to the loving heart of Jesus and felt Him carry you. I really prayed for each of you to have experienced that, and I prayed for people that we encountered on the streets and sidewalks, and those in the parks and in cars and trucks and busses and Ubers that they all felt carried in the loving heart of Christ,” Bishop Lewandowski said.
After the Holy Hour, the bishop held a small dinner in the cathedral hall for the pilgrims and some of the diocesan staff who coordinated the visit through the Ocean State, where the pilgrims began their Rhode Island visit with a Mass at Our Lady of Fatima in Cumberland, which also drew hundreds last Tuesday night.
Father Ryan Rojo, a priest from the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, who served as one of the national NEP chaplains, spoke about the transformative power of food and the Eucharist during a Eucharistic procession they experienced earlier in Long Island.
He highlighted the importance of food for young adults involved in the procession and drew parallels to the biblical stories of Elijah and Jesus, emphasizing how ordinary elements like bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ through divine intervention.
Father Rojo encouraged deeper intimacy with Jesus and the Eucharist, suggesting to those in attendance that they should avail themselves more to the Sacrament of Penance and attend Mass regularly if they are not already doing so.
Daniel Cooper and his wife Valerie, parishioners at Holy Ghost Parish in Tiverton, made the 45-minute drive to Cumberland to welcome the perpetual pilgrims after Valerie read about it in Rhode Island Catholic.
“This was a beautiful evening,” Daniel Cooper said of the liturgy, which would have been held outdoors on the parish’s beautiful and spacious grounds if not for the rain that welcomed the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage to the Ocean State.
Jack Tracy, the master Knight of Columbus of the Fourth Degree for the state of Rhode Island, was part of the honor guard welcoming the pilgrims and the Blessed Sacrament.
“This is so moving. It’s a great sign of hope for the young people,” said Tracy, whose home parish is St. Agatha in Woonsocket. “It feels good to be a part of this national pilgrimage.”
The next day, a capacity crowd of more than 300 participated in a noon Mass at St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Church and Shrine in Nasonville.
The pastor, Father Jose Parathanal, CMI, JCL, welcomed the participants to the world’s first and only shrine to St. Therese and encouraged all to explore the serenity and beauty of the grounds as a place for prayer afterwards.
The nine perpetual pilgrims, Zachary Dotson, Marcel Ferrer, John Paul Flynn, Eduardo Gutierrez, Cheyenne Johnson (Team Leader), Angelina Marconi, Raymond Martinez II, Sharon Phillips and Mary Carmen Zakrajsek sat in the front pew.
Marcel Ferre, a rising junior at Franciscan and a Cleveland native, shared his journey of rediscovering faith through a powerful encounter with the Eucharist with Rhode Island Catholic.
Inspired by a previous Congress a couple of years ago, he applied and was selected for the 2026 pilgrimage. He highlighted the inspiring faith of attendees and meaningful street encounters.
“I fell away from the church a little bit at the beginning of high school, and I came back through a powerful encounter with our Lord in the Eucharist, and it just changed my life,” Ferre said. “And then ever since then, I kind of have just devoted my life to trying to spread the gospel and inviting other people into that, into what I received from the Lord, that peace and healing.”
Cheyenne Johnson, 26, from Indianapolis, discussed her experience as a pilgrim on the St. Catherine Drexel route last year and her current pilgrimage, noting the historical significance of the East Coast.
“It’s been a great experience. I love the East coast so much,” said Johnson, who has a sister who lives in the Miami area.
“I just like people coming out to the events and seeing their faith and seeing their witness, because we’ve had people travel from states away just to come to our events, and part of me says that’s crazy, because it’s just mind blowing, we are just walking with Jesus, and people are traveling miles and miles our way to come walk with us, and because they see the hope that we bring. And the hope is found in Jesus and the Eucharist, and they’re excited to join us for that.”
Raymond Martinez, a 20-year-old seminarian from San Angelo, Texas, participated in the pilgrimage for the first time. He emphasized the joy of sharing faith and deepening understanding of the Eucharist.
Martinez especially enjoyed an encounter the group had with residents at the Jean Jugan Center earlier that day.
“We had conversations with them and explained what we’re doing, because they couldn’t, unfortunately, join the events. So, going to them this morning and bringing them the Eucharist, and having a chance to talk to them about what we’re doing, that was just amazing to me.”
