PORTLAND — Carrying the Eucharist, Bishop James Ruggieri of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland led about 200 people in a procession to Casco Bay Lines Ferry Terminal on Thursday afternoon. Music played from a speaker as they walked. “How great is our God? Sing with me.”

A woman on a passing tour bus asked what was going on. One pilgrim passed her a pamphlet that read, “250 years. 250,000 Holy Hours. One nation, under God.”

The Eucharist, the consecrated bread and wine that for Catholics is the body and blood of Christ, is rarely seen outside in public.

Thursday was an exception for the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which began in May at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche in St. Augustine, Florida, and passed through Maine on its way to Philadelphia to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.

The pilgrimage visited Kennebunk, Brunswick and Lewiston on Tuesday and Wednesday before coming to Portland Thursday.

The pilgrimage started at St. Peter Parish in Portland in the morning and traveled to the ferry terminal after a Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Congress Street. The event ended at St. Christopher Parish on Peaks Island Thursday evening.

The pilgrimage began in St. Augustine because the first officially recorded Catholic mass in the now-United States was held there in 1565. Traveling through what was the original Thirteen Colonies, it will end on the Fourth of July weekend in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

“This 250th anniversary is significant. I think a lot of Catholics have a lot of pride in this country, being American and honoring that,” said Molly DiLorenzo, director of communication for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

The theme of the pilgrimage is “One Nation Under God,” in homage to the fact that the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization, lobbied Congress to add the phrase to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.

DiLorenzo said the pilgrimage is special because usually the Eucharist is only present during a Mass. 

Carrying the Eucharist into the outside world is a public demonstration of faith and prayer that Christ will heal and renew the country and souls of Americans, according to the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s website. 

“We went right down Maine Street in Brunswick, and people pulled over and they waved,” said DiLorenzo, “With everything going on in the world, to have something so joyful out and about, I think is really wonderful.”

While most pilgrims only join the group for part of the route, nine young adults, called perpetual pilgrims, applied to follow the pilgrimage all the way from St. Augustine to Philadelphia. The pilgrims drive between cities and then walk on foot when they arrive.

“We know iron sharpens iron, right? So, when I get to see other Catholics, other people living their faith, it makes my faith stronger,” said Zach Dotson, one of the perpetual pilgrims. “It’s a boon to keep going and know that I’m united with them in my prayers and in my love for Jesus Christ.”

Dotson, who lives just outside of Chicago, said that it was his first time coming to Maine. “It’s beautiful. I love everything about it except for the ticks,” he said.

Though Dotson and the eight other perpetual pilgrims serve in a more official capacity, they are not the only pilgrims who began the trip in St. Augustine.

María Cecelia Pfund, who lives in Vero Beach, Florida, and is from Argentina, said she felt called to do the pilgrimage in part because St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the patron saint of the pilgrimage, is also the patron saint of immigrants.

“It’s really inspiring to see the churches are still flourishing and that people still do believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist,” said Pfund, who said she has enjoyed stopping at historical Catholic sites along the way to Philadelphia.

Pfund, who is traveling alone with no car, said that she has relied on the kindness of other Catholics who appeared at just the right time to help her on her journey. 

Other pilgrims come from closer to home, like Sarah Houde, who grew up in Topsham and is now the vice president of events and operations for the National Eucharistic Congress, the organization behind the pilgrimage. 

Houde said the organization was considering skipping Maine on the pilgrimage and going straight to Philadelphia, but she advocated for a stop in the state. 

“I keep running into so many people that I know,” said Houde. “We walked the streets of Portland this morning, so that was a really beautiful experience to pray for the city and the state.”

The pilgrimage will travel to York on Friday for a closing Mass before continuing on its journey.