The Order of Malta American Association presents the Baby Steps Camino™, a 3 day beach-walking pilgrimage from Jacksonville Beach to Our Lady of La Leche National Shrine at Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine. Join us for Mass, Confession, Holy Hours, and pilgrim socials as we walk in this ancient method of prayer during the Holy Season of Advent.  This pilgrimage is offered for the pilgrim's personal spiritual growth and to raise awareness of the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem, a primary work of the Order of Malta.  Pilgrims are welcome to join us 1, 2, or all 3 days of the pilgrimage.  A guided "mini pilgrimage", the Bambino Camino™, a 2 mile walk from Vilano Beach to the Shrine on December 10th, the final day of pilgrimage, is an easy walk for pilgrims of all abilities.  Non-walkers are also most welcome to join us on the final day for the events at the Shrine. 

What is a pilgrimage?

Welcome, dear pilgrim, to the 7th Annual Baby Steps Camino™️, our three-day Advent sojourn of prayer, reflection, sacrifice, worship and fellowship. The word “pilgrim” comes from the Latin “peregrinus,” meaning stranger or crusader.  And that is what people of faith are; a people whose home is not this world, but the Heavenly Jerusalem toward which our faith impels us.

We strive to support holy family hospital

Holy Family Hospital is the premier maternity hospital and neonatal critical care center in the Bethlehem region of the West Bank. Its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit cares for the critically-ill newborns, some weighing just over one pound.