Thomas Aquinas College Hosts National Eucharistic Pilgrimage

Thomas Aquinas College, New England, welcomed over 200 pilgrims from central Massachusetts, southern Vermont, and beyond when the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage made an overnight stop on campus on Friday and Saturday.

As part of the 2026 St. Frances Cabrini route, in honor of 250^th anniversary of the United States’ founding, the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage stopped at Thomas Aquinas College as it made its way up the East Coast, en route to reach Philadelphia on July 4^th for the nation’s birthday.

Our Lord arrived in Northfield on Friday evening, first stopping at St. Patrick’s Church on Main Street for a Holy Hour. Local parishioners and pilgrims from afar came to adore Him in the peace of the small church, before Head Chaplain Rev. Greg Markey retrieved the monstrance and led the group outside and down the sidewalk in procession.

Led by incensed smoke and ringing bells, the procession wound its way through Northfield as the sun set, illuminating the monstrance and its attendants with a golden glow. Pilgrims trailed behind, singing hymns with the Thomas Aquinas College Choir, making public witness and reverence to Christ in the Eucharist. One woman even joined the procession spontaneously, leaving her car from the street to join the pilgrims in glorifying God.

As the procession arrived on campus, all headed to Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel, the monstrance’s next resting place. Pilgrims went to confession, prayed the Rosary, and attended Christ throughout the night in Adoration.

“I was stunned by the beauty of campus,” said Maria Carmen Zakrajsek, one of the perpetual pilgrims accompanying Our Lord on his journey. She had learned about Thomas Aquinas College through alumnus priest Rev. Reginald Wolford, O.P. (’97), and was excited to visit the New England campus for the first time. “This has been one of my favorite processions on this route, at least landscape-wise. And, as we processed with Jesus into the Chapel, I felt that this was a beautiful, peaceful space to pray.”

The next morning, Rev. Peter Totleben, O.P., friar of the Province of St. Joseph and chaplain to the Dominican Monastery of the Mother of God in West Springfield, gave a talk entitled “Bread of Angels, Food for Pilgrims: St. Thomas Aquinas Sings About the Eucharist.” He reminded the attending pilgrims that the Eucharist is the greatest sign of God’s love and care for us, something St. Thomas knew well and shared through his numerous Eucharistic poems and hymns.

“St. Thomas knew that the greatest gift God could give us was also the most extravagant gift He could give us, one that would exceed all our expectations or anything we could imagine: God gives us His very self,” he said. “He loved the Eucharist because he knew that the Eucharist is how God cares for us. And, in fact, the Eucharist was instituted to make God’s care contemporary to our needs.”

Next, the Most Rev. William Byrne, Bishop of Springfield, and the Most Rev. Peter Libasci, Bishop of Manchester, concelebrated Mass. In his homily, Bishop Byrne reflected on the power of the Eucharist in the life of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, in his own journey to the priesthood, and in the lives of so many pilgrims following the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. “We discover our worth,” he said, “that Jesus would empty Himself into the form of bread and wine at every single Holy Mass. We are fed to carry Jesus into the world, and we are united to Him so as to be transformed into Him.”

To close the pilgrimage’s stop at Thomas Aquinas College, Fr. Markey once again led pilgrims in a Eucharistic procession, this time around campus, ending at an outdoor altar. There, Bishop Byrne gave benediction and handed the monstrance to Bishop Libasci, transferring its guidance from the Diocese of Springfield to the Diocese of Manchester. Once the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage continued its journey to Vermont, those left at the College gathered in St. Frassati Student Center for fellowship and lunch.

“In all the years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen a procession like this one,” one Northfield local marveled. “This was such a special weekend, and I felt so fulfilled seeing this beautiful, public witness to Christ and the Catholic faith.”

More photos from the Eucharistic Procession ...

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... and the celebrations the next day!