Pope Leo takes road trip to mountainside shrines during his summer vacation

ROME (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV took a road trip pilgrimage with his older brother to the scenic mountainside Sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity in Vallepietra July 22 before stopping to pray in the Holy Cave in Subiaco, where a young St. Benedict sought refuge from the corruption of Rome in the early sixth century.

The Vatican said the pope traveled by car from Castel Gandolfo, where he is spending a few weeks in July, to the remote mountain sanctuary near the Italian region of Abruzzo, a roughly two-hour drive from Castel Gandolfo on winding mountain roads, then continued on to the Benedictine monasteries of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica in nearby Subiaco.

It was the second surprise pilgrimage the pope has made this week during his summer vacation. On July 20, he visited the Benedictine Abbey of Montecassino, where he prayed for peace at the tomb of St. Benedict.

The Holy Trinity sanctuary sits more than 4,500 feet up Mount Autore, on the border of Italy’s Lazio and Abruzzo regions. Built into the rock itself, the shrine draws many pilgrims, who climb the mountain trails on foot, carrying banners each year in the days after Pentecost leading up to Trinity Sunday.

Inside, Pope Leo prayed before a revered historic fresco of the Holy Trinity, rendered in Byzantine style. He then greeted the shrine’s religious community and the faithful gathered there.

A video shared by one pilgrim showed the pope’s brother John Prevost stepping out of the backseat of the black car along with Pope Leo, surrounded by a slew of papal security personnel, to the surprise of visitors who had come to the shrine without expecting a papal visit.

Speaking off the cuff from a balcony of the shrine, Pope Leo told the pilgrims that the beauty of the mountain sanctuary “reminds us of the desire in all our hearts to seek God, to seek holiness, and to seek the help of God, who never abandons us.” Before departing, he greeted pilgrims individually; many kissing the pope’s ring.

The feast of St. Anne, whose chapel stands at the foot of the steps leading out of the Vallepietra shrine, is celebrated July 26, and the sanctuary has already begun the days of celebrations and pilgrimage leading up to the feast.

From Vallepietra, the pope traveled to nearby Subiaco, where St. Benedict of Nursia withdrew as a hermit in the early sixth century following the example of the Desert Fathers and laying the spiritual groundwork that would later lead him to be considered the father of Western monasticism.

At the Monastery of St. Benedict, the pope paused in silent prayer before a 13th-century fresco of St. Francis, the oldest existing portrait of the saint from Assisi who came to Subiaco as a pilgrim in 1223.

In the Sacro Speco, the “Holy Cave” where St. Benedict lived in solitude, Pope Leo kissed the knee of the saint’s statue, a longstanding custom among pilgrims, and led those present in the Lord’s Prayer.

The pope then went on to the Monastery of St. Scholastica, named for St. Benedict’s sister, where he shared lunch with the Benedictine community and toured the cloisters before the return drive to Castel Gandolfo.

The Subiaco monasteries have been regarded as a center of Benedictine spirituality for nearly a thousand years. The Holy Cave holds frescoes spanning centuries, with some dating back to as early as the 9th century. The Church of St. Scholastica, first built in 981 and rebuilt in Gothic style after a 1228 earthquake, was also home to Italy’s first printing press, established there by German monks.

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