A free, printable guide to the traditional Seven Churches Visitation on Holy Thursday.
“Remain here, and watch with me.” (Matthew 26:38)
The tradition of visiting seven churches after attending the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday traces its origins to 1553, when St. Philip Neri began gathering the faithful to visit the seven major basilicas of Rome as a countermeasure to the worldly excesses of Carnevale. Beginning in the hours before dawn, he would lead his companions from church to church, with prayers, hymns, and a brief sermon at each. This pilgrimage grew in popularity until its participants numbered in the thousands.
Over the centuries, the Seven Churches Visitation became a beloved practice among pilgrims to Rome, particularly during Jubilee years. As the devotion spread beyond Rome, local churches came to take the place of the great basilicas, and the practice came to be particularly associated with Holy Thursday, when many churches remain open late into the night for visitation to the Blessed Sacrament at the altar of repose.
Following Christ's admonition to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane to “remain here, and watch with me,” those who undertake this devotion accompany Our Lord in spirit through the opening hours of His Passion.
Seven Visits: The Journey from the Upper Room to Golgotha offers a unique means of entering more deeply into this beautiful tradition.
Modeled on the beloved Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori, each of the seven visits follows a successive stage of Our Lord's Passion, from His agony in Gethsemane through His various trials. Yet the focus is not so much upon His physical torments as upon the interior sufferings He endured in His Sacred Heart as He encountered betrayal, abandonment, injustice, humiliation, and hatred—and how He responded to each with perfect charity.
Thus woven throughout these seven visits is Our Lord's teaching on loving one's enemies—a commandment He Himself fulfilled so perfectly during His Passion. Each visit draws upon Scripture, with responses, meditations, and original prayers that invite us not only to contemplate the sufferings Christ endured for our sake, but to learn from His example: patience in betrayal, courage in bearing witness to the truth, gentleness under accusation, charity toward friend and foe alike, and generosity in suffering. In this way, the devotion becomes not merely a remembrance of His Passion, but a school of Christian charity.
The booklet also includes a collection of traditional prayers and hymns for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, providing additional material for prayerful reflection during the visits.
This booklet is available as a free download. It has received the nihil obstat of two ecclesiastical censors and is awaiting the final imprimatur. When approval is received, the downloadable file will be updated.
Printing instructions: This 24-page PDF is designed to be printed as a 5.5" × 8.5" booklet on standard letter-size paper. Open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader and select File → Print. Look for Booklet or Booklet Printing (usually under “Page Sizing & Handling” or “Page Handling”). Select double-sided printing, following your printer's instructions, then fold and staple the finished pages.
5.5" x 8.5" printable PDF booklet 24 pages
