Portugal 2006: Light and Enlightenment
The Exploration of Personal, Religious and Scientific Horizons

Portugal: April 22 - 30, 2006

The course will begin in the Algarve on Saturday, April 22, 2006 and end in Lisbon on April 30, eight days later. First we will visit the beaches and waters of what was once called “the end of the world.” Then to Evora: a World Heritage Foundation site and a special prism displaying different lights from different periods — brown from prehistoric times, gray from the classical era, Moorish blue, red from the Middle Ages and Christian gold. Off to Tomar: the fiery focal point of the Portuguese Knights Templar that became the navigational star of the Age of Exploration. Fatima. Coimbra: the magnetic center of learning. Porto: where the radiant energy of wine from the surrounding vineyards becomes matter for commercial squares. And finally Lisbon: the bejeweled imperial capital. We can swim, sail, see and hear fado, drink fresh wine with our friends and study the stars.

The syllabus for our course is the exploration of the interplay of religion and science in Portugal, a prism of Europe and the world; the understanding of how that interplay brought about the Age of Exploration which opened Europe to China and the East; and the discernment of how this affects our lives today - as we see on the evening news. We will learn how the legal controversy between Rome and the Knights Templar, whose red crosses emblazoned the sails of the galleons that founded the New World, brought about the Order of Christ and with it the Portuguese schools of navigation. We will hear how the Portuguese earthquake of 1755 and the educational tsunami it caused had an effect on medicine, Jesuit teaching generally and on Mount St. James in particular. The faculty is John Brooks, S.J., S.T.D., president emeritus of the College of the Holy Cross, and Janine Shertzer, Ph.D, professor, past chair of the Physics Department, and Marlon Professor of the Sciences.

The cost of the tour is $3,900 per person.

Click here for your invitation to the tour.

Click here to view a copy of the trip brochure which includes a detailed itinerary.

Click here to download the registration form to reserve a spot on the tour. Return it with your deposit to the address listed below. (Please put Alumni Travel/Study Tour on your check.)

These forms will open as .pdf files in new browser windows.

For further information, please contact the program coordinator Bob Crimmins (’65) at:

Alumni Education
Box 211-A
College of the Holy Cross
Worcester, Massachusetts
Telephone: 508-793-2398