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| Outdoor Mass for the pilgrims |
Each year in October the Three Hearts Pilgrimage takes place in the foothills of Oklahoma, a 2-day 35 mile penitential walk in the medieval footprint. The final destination is the Traditional Benedictine monastery of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey in Hulbert, where a joyous Solemn Mass is celebrated for the pilgrims upon their arrival. The pilgrimage received its inspiration from the annual Chartres Pilgrimage in France.
As the event becomes more and more well known, it is growing with each passing year. What began only in 2020 with a handful of thirteen boys and their fathers, has grown into an annual walking pilgrimage that draws over a thousand families from across America.
The Three Hearts Pilgrimage originally began as the Our Lady Help of Christians Pilgrimage, established by a group of young boys from the St. John Bosco Institute (SJBI), a Catholic boys school in Edmond, Oklahoma.
The pilgrimage invokes Our Lady Help of Christians for physical and spiritual protection as participants offer up their journey to the Three Hearts of the Holy Family with the intention of the restoration of Christian culture.
Participants must register for tickets and join a "chapter." This is a group of approximately 30-60 people that walk together in the pilgrimage, singing songs, carrying banners, and praying together.
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The pilgrimage is penitential. Participants camp one night in a field and awake at dawn to continue their walk. Outdoor Mass is also celebrated for the pilgrims. A small army of volunteers works hard to assist the pilgrimage and serve the needs of the pilgrims and tend to first-aid. Three Hearts Pilgrimage is entirely a volunteer-run organization.
Those who participante include traditional Catholics from Oklahoma and beyond. Many are youth and teens. Scouts also participate, members of the Federation of North American Explorers (FNE), a Catholic scouting movement adapted and developed in France by the Jesuit priest Venerable Father Jacques Sevin. The FNE have separate units for boys and girls, ages 5-17 and the pilgrimage is a core event in their calendar of comprehensive outdoor programs designed to assist youth in their mental, physical, spiritual and moral formation.
The most recent pilgrimage was held October 12-14, with special guest Raymond Cardinal Burke. Cardinal Burke has a great devotion to the three hearts, evidenced in the ceiling fresco of his private chapel in Rome. Below is his endorsement he gave to the inaugural pilgrimage in 2021:
"With great joy, I have received the news of the first Three Hearts Pilgrimage, which is now to become an annual pilgrimage. What more beautiful and efficacious way to obtain divine grace for our witness to the Catholic Faith, above all in the family, the incomparable fruit of Holy Matrimony. The devotion to the Three Hearts, which is most dear to me, gives expression to the reality of the inhabitation of God the Holy Spirit in our souls, uniting us in communion with God the Father in God the Son. Through you, I impart to all of the pilgrims my blessing, assuring them of my prayers for them throughout the pilgrimage and, above all, as I offer the Holy Mass. Please give my warmest greetings to the pilgrims. I hope that one day I may be able to join in the pilgrimage. Please pray for me. Yours in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and in the Purest Heart of St. Joseph."
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| The emblem of the Three Hearts Pilgrimage |
The concluding Mass is always at Clear Creek Abbey, in their abbey church. Let us hope and pray this wonderful annual event will continue to grow and inspire others to be strong in the Faith. There are many graces and consolations associated with pilgrimages.
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| Concluding Mass at Clear Creek Abbey |
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| Processional banners suited for outdoor use are carried by each chapter |
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