All Roads Lead to Rome
The Choir’s Pilgrimage of Faith, Family, and Discovery
A Journey Rooted in Faith and Augustinian Tradition
The Austin Prep pilgrimage to Italy invites students and families to step into the living history of the Catholic Church. Built around the Choir’s invitation to participate in the Youth Choir Festival at the Vatican, the journey weaves together prayer, music, art, culture, and community in a way that reflects the heart of our Augustinian mission. This experience is open to the entire Austin Prep community. Students, siblings, parents, and grandparents form our entourage when we depart Willow Street for the world.
The pilgrimage aligns with Austin Prep’s Augustinian charisms of veritas, unitas, and caritas, inviting travelers to explore truth, grow in unity, and encounter God’s love together. These shared moments reveal what it means to live our mission beyond campus, in places where St. Augustine walked and tradition continues to shape the Catholic imagination.
Along the way, travelers encounter sacred art, liturgical traditions, and architectural masterpieces that deepen their understanding of history, culture, and the global Church. Whether singing in a basilica, standing beneath a Renaissance dome, or walking through a piazza shaped by centuries of devotion, students learn that faith is not only studied: it is lived.
A Tradition of Pilgrimage
Offered to Austin Prep every couple of years, these pilgrimages have included more than one hundred travelers—choristers, additional students, families, alumni, faculty, trustees, and clergy. Together, they reflect the community at the heart of Austin Prep’s mission: inspiring hearts to unite, minds to inquire, and hands to serve.
Vignettes from the Vatican
When Austin Prep pilgrims arrive in Rome, they enter a city alive with prayer, history, and tradition. Previous experiences have included unique opportunities to interact with the Pope.
On New Year’s Eve during a prior pilgrimage, our Choir stood near the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square as the bells tolled and twilight descended. The Swiss Guard processed past, the piazza filled with song, and Pope Francis appeared. As our Choir began to sing, he turned toward the group, smiled with joy, and offered a blessing, creating a once-in-a-lifetime moment students and families will never forget.
Pilgrims have also participated in the Papal Audience inside Paul VI Audience Hall, joining thousands from around the world to hear Scripture, prayer, and reflections from the Holy Father. These moments give students a deeper understanding of the universal Church and the role of the papacy in today’s world.
Groups have also joined the Vatican’s Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God inside St. Peter’s Basilica. To attend Mass at the heart of the Church and raise voices in song and prayer on such a feast day becomes both a spiritual milestone and an opportunity for students to witness the richness of Catholic ritual.
Each encounter reveals that our pilgrimage is not simply a trip; rather, it has the capacity to transform and transcend.
Music and Worship in Sacred Spaces
Throughout the pilgrimage, the Choir offers sacred music in basilicas that have echoed with prayer for generations. Austin Prep choristers have sung at the:
• Basilica of St. Augustine
• Basilica of St. Cecilia in Trastevere
• Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
• Basilica of St. Ignatius of Loyola
• Basilica of St. John Lateran
• Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls
• Basilica of St. Peter in Chains
• St. Peter’s Basilica
Austin Prep has provided music for Mass at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter inside St. Peter’s Basilica celebrated by senior cardinals of the Roman Curia. In these moments, students witness how artistry and devotion come together within Catholic worship.
Through sharing the gift of music, students experience firsthand the truth of St. Augustine’s words: Those who sing pray twice. History envelops them: marble floors worn by pilgrims, frescoes and statues by Michelangelo and Bernini, sunlight filtering through centuries-old windows. Their music becomes both an offering and a prayer.
A highlight of a past pilgrimage was headlining a concert at the Basilica of St. Augustine in Campo Marzio. Surrounded by the iconography and artistic heritage of the Augustinian Order and the final resting place of St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, students experienced a profound connection to the very tradition that shapes Austin Prep. Though thousands of miles from campus, they were, in many ways, right at home.
Discovering the Eternal City of Rome
Rome reveals itself one step, one piazza, one breathtaking view at a time. As pilgrims wander its winding streets, they encounter layers of history and faith woven into daily life. The Eternal City becomes both classroom and chapel, offering an open-air lesson in art, architecture, theology, and culture.
Students studying Latin recognize inscriptions, mottos, and classical references that appear throughout the city, seeing their coursework come alive in basilicas, monuments, and ancient ruins. Whether visiting renowned landmarks or simply pausing for gelato in a sunlit square, pilgrims experience Rome as a place where community, learning, and Catholic identity come alive.
Families often explore:
• Arch of Constantine
• Circus Maximus
• Colosseum
• Pantheon
• Piazza Navona
• Roman Catacombs
• St. Peter’s Basilica
• Sistine Chapel
• Spanish Steps
• Trevi Fountain
• Vatican Museums
• Victor Emmanuel II Monument
Pilgrims walk ancient streets, try new foods, capture scenic photos, and enjoy experiences that deepen connections within the Austin Prep community.
Walking in the Footsteps of St. Augustine
Participants in our pilgrimage will follow in the footsteps of St. Augustine. We invite our community to deepen its connection to the Augustinian heritage, an intellectual and spiritual tradition that has shaped the Church for more than 1,600 years and now comes into renewed focus with the election of Pope Leo XIV, an Augustinian friar.
Guided by Augustinian friars who will accompany us throughout the journey, pilgrims will hear preaching rooted in the themes of interiority, truth, and the restless search for God that animated Augustine’s life and writings. Together, we will reflect on how these enduring insights continue to shape our mission and identity today and our call to be the Augustinian cavalry.
The pilgrimage offers the extraordinary opportunity to visit sites associated with Augustine’s own path of conversion and ministry, from Rome to the northern reaches of Italy.
As we walk in the very places where Augustine taught, prayed, questioned, and ultimately surrendered his life to God, pilgrims will experience the richness of a tradition that still speaks powerfully to the modern heart.
Following those same restless steps, we hope travelers return with a renewed sense of purpose, community, and spiritual grounding that are hallmarks of the Augustinian way.
Our 2026 trip planning includes visits to some of Italy’s most meaningful and iconic cities, including Assisi, Cascia, Florence, and Milan. Participation in the Austin Prep Choir and the Italy tour is based on ensemble readiness, and students interested in joining the choir or touring with the ensemble will take part in an audition process.
For more information, please contact Dr. Jessica McCormack, Director of Music, at jessica.mccormack@austinprep.org.
