Pope Leo XIV traveled to Pavia, Italy, on Saturday afternoon to pray before the relics of St. Augustine of Hippo. The visit to the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro, where Augustine’s remains have rested since the 8th century, was a private pilgrimage during intense summer heat in the Lombardy region. Aleteia’s full report provides details of the papal visit.
What happened
The Pope made the 22-mile journey south from Milan to Pavia, a university town that has housed St. Augustine’s relics for over twelve centuries. After the Doctor of the Church died in Hippo (modern-day Algeria) in 430, his body was eventually moved to Sardinia, then to Pavia by the Lombard king Liutprand around 720 to protect the relics from Muslim incursions in North Africa.
The Saturday visit was not part of a larger pastoral trip but a focused pilgrimage to this single shrine. Pope Leo XIV, whose religious order (the Augustinians) takes its name and charism from the saint, spent time in private prayer at the ornate marble tomb before departing. The basilica, a Romanesque church dating to the 12th century, also contains the remains of the philosopher Boethius.
For complete coverage of the papal pilgrimage, see Aleteia’s reporting.
Why this matters
This pilgrimage marks Pope Leo XIV’s first documented visit as Pope to the relics of his order’s patron saint. Robert Prevost lived as an Augustinian friar for decades before his election in May 2025, meaning St. Augustine shaped his spiritual formation more directly than for most Popes. Augustine’s writings on grace, the Eucharist, and the nature of the Church form bedrock teaching still referenced in the Catechism fifteen centuries later.
The choice to make this trip quietly, outside a major pastoral visit, suggests personal devotion rather than ceremonial obligation. Pavia is not a major pilgrimage site for most Catholics, but for Augustinians it holds the significance that Assisi holds for Franciscans or Loyola for Jesuits.
For Catholic readers
If you have never read St. Augustine, start with his Confessions, the first spiritual autobiography in Western literature. His opening prayer remains one of the most-quoted lines in Christian writing: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” The full text is available free online through New Advent or in any Catholic bookstore.
Sources:
1. Aleteia — original report
