When Agathe and Romeo Poulin of Auburn planned their pilgrimage to Italy in 2008, both wanted to experience a faith-based journey instead of a destination. Before their marriage, Agathe was a former nun who left the convent before taking her final vows, and Romeo was a former religious brother.

Although they were to travel with a group led by Father Daniel Greenleaf, then the parish priest for Holy Cross Church in Lewiston, Agathe asked daughter-in-law, Amy Poulin, an R.N., if she would join them. Romeo had a heart condition and Agathe was nervous to make the trip alone.

When oldest grandson, Max, then age 11, learned of the trip, he spoke up and said, “I’ll go to Italy.”

“I always felt that I was not as close as I wanted to be with my grandchildren,” confessed Agathe. “I always worked and never babysat. They knew me as strict, organized, on time. I wanted them to know the other side of me.”

They flew out March 25, making their first stop in Pisa, Italy. That evening, Father Greenleaf asked the group to share what their favorite parts of the day had been. Max had a difficult time putting into words how he loved being there with his grandparents. “He was teary-eyed,” Amy said.

Following their meal, Father Greenleaf, who was friendly with the Poulins and had lived in Italy, invited them to “go do something.” Agathe, not in the least bit interested in retiring to the hotel, agreed and so the group snuck into St. Peter’s square after dark, muffling their laughter when the police made their rounds. They went to Trevi Fountain, eventually making their way to one of Father’s favorite Gelato stands, where, quite by accident, they toppled a display of ice cream cones onto the street and received a stern tongue-lashing in Italian from the girl working in the shop. “She was really yelling at us,” said Amy.

Over the next nine days, the group visited four major basilicas and numerous churches throughout Pisa, Florence, Sienna, Assisi, and Rome. Their guide, Gaia, who specialized in religious pilgrimages, arranged for the group to celebrate mass daily in each location they visited. Having their own priest, the group was afforded the privilege of space, candles, bread and wine for mass. Among Romeo’s highlights was Max’s reading for the mass held in the Catacombs in Rome, the ancient, underground burial places beneath the city.

“I was so proud of him,” beamed Romeo. “After that, Max had the job of passing the basket at each Mass.”

Max found Sienna a most interesting stop in their travels. “St. Catherine of Sienna was a nun in both Sienna and Rome. Both cities liked her and wanted to claim her as their own. When she died, there was a disagreement between the two over where she should be buried. To satisfy both, her body was buried in Rome, but her head was sent to Sienna and you could see it there. It was really interesting.”

Attending mass in St. Peter’s Square was unequivocally the trip’s greatest highlight. Being the third anniversary of Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict the 16th walked among the crowd and said mass out in the open instead of from behind a window.

They were told by Father Greenleaf that if they wanted to be near the Pope, they would have to run when the gates to the square opened and not be shy to jostle for a place, even if it was with a nun. Agathe said, “Those nuns picked up their skirts and ran! And Amy and I ran, too.”

Amy admitted a little pushing helped them get close and when the Pope or “Papa,” as some of the Italians referred to him, came into view, she began screaming. “Max said it was like being at a rock concert. And I was screaming like he was a rock star. I was so close I could’ve touched him if I hadn’t been afraid someone might break my arm!”

One of everyone’s favorite moments, however, took place in Hotel Michelangelo in Rome. They had taken most of their meals with the group in restaurants. On one afternoon, they visited the local grocery shops and brought back wine, olives, cheese, and fresh baguettes. “We had an Italian picnic out on our balcony,” explained Max. They reminisced about the trip and Agathe and Romeo told the story of how they met, laughing about all the things Agathe had listed as unacceptable in a man before she met Romeo. “If he had an old car, he was out! If he had a mustache, he was out!” she chuckled. “If he was a man who leered at women, he was out!”

Reflecting back, Max said what he learned about his grandparents during that time was that theirs was a true love of one another and God. “I think if you look up ‘love’ in the dictionary you’ll find Romeo and Agathe. They love each other and aren’t afraid to show it. They love God, their sons and their grandchildren – everyone. They are respectful toward each other and I think that is very important in a relationship and theirs is special.”

Amy added, “I thought I knew a lot about marriage before we went to Italy, but I learned so much from Romeo and Agathe. We want our children to stay married forever. We saw that they prayed together for their marriage, they prayed for us.”

“It was an honor to know that someone else was praying for you,” said Max. “It’s obvious how much they love God.”

In the end, Romeo and Agathe’s pilgrimage was more than they had originally hoped. Immersed in the religious history of their faith, they shared their life with Max and his mom, casting themselves in a new light and forging a stronger bond with their grandson.

“At first I worried about the cost of the trip,” admitted Agathe. “But it was worth every penny. I would tell anyone to take a trip with their grandchildren. It doesn’t have to be to Europe. If you can do it, you should. You’ll never regret it.”

Romeo agreed. “Now it would be my dream to take all my grandchildren.”