Issue 72 - The Pilgrim - June 2018 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

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Feature The Pilgrim June 2018 Lourdes – a place of pilgrimage and joy The annual Southwark diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes takes place in August. Paul de Marco, author of Lourdes Message Today, says why the French town has such an appeal for him. I can vividly remember standing at the grotto at Massabielle for the six o’clock outdoor Mass on a chilly morning back in November 1985. I’d arrived in Lourdes the day before, and had checked into a little bed and breakfast before going for a stroll through the picturesque town, which nestles in the foothills of the Pyrenees in south-western France. As with most people who visit Lourdes, I was initially put off by the plethora of shops selling holy water, statues, rosaries and all manner of religious souvenirs. After all, shopping wasn’t the purpose of the visit, but rather I was just a curious young Catholic wanting to know more about Lourdes. But any concerns over the commercialisation of Lourdes soon evaporated during that Mass in the grotto as I gazed up at the crutches hanging there of people who’d been cured of their disabilities. At that moment, what I’d read had happened at Lourdes in 1858 suddenly became very real indeed. Someone once told me that everyone who visits Lourdes has been called there for a reason, and it took me 32 years to realise the truth in that comment. The story of Lourdes begins with 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, who claimed that a beautiful lady had appeared to her at a grotto in the rock face named Massabielle on 11th February, 1858. Despite the disbelief of the locals and the hostility shown her by several officials and priests in the town, the uneducated Bernadette continued to visit the grotto where she would fall to her knees and pray the rosary in an ecstatic state. In total there were 18 apparitions between February and July of that year, but it was at the ninth apparition on 25th February that a miracle was worked for all the world to see. Bernadette said that the lady had asked her to scratch at a certain point on the ground and water began emerging from that very spot, which soon developed into a spring. Within days, there were reports of miraculous healings of people who had drunk the water from this spring or who had applied it to their bodies. At the sixteenth apparition on 25th March, Bernadette was given a revelation which stunned the world and the Catholic Church when the lady announced: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Bernadette, who was at that stage virtually illiterate, told a priest named Father Peyramale what the lady had said to her. The priest was shocked and visibly shaken by this shattering news as he realised that there was no way that Bernadette could possibly have made it up. A Commission was set up by Monsignor Laurence, the Bishop of Tarbes, to rigorously investigate the events at the grotto and all the claims of miraculous healings. Three years later, Bishop Laurence announced that the faithful were justified in believing with certainty that the Virgin Mary had indeed appeared to Bernadette. Doctor Vergez, who was one of the senior doctors on the medical panel that investigated the healings for the Commission, announced: “Such phenomena are beyond the comprehension of the human mind.” Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity at their convent in Nevers, where she cared for the sick in the hospice, but she died at the age of just 35 on 16th April, 1879. She was finally declared a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1923, and her remains were exhumed on three occasions. On the last exhumation, which was 46 years after her death, Doctor Comte, who examined her body, was stunned to discover that her body was completely incorrupt and undecayed, including her internal organs, such as her liver. He stated that “this was not a natural phenomenon.” Bernadette’s body was then placed in a crystal coffin, which went on display in 1925 in St Joseph’s Chapel in the grounds of the Convent in Nevers. Since 1858, an estimated 200 million pilgrims have visited Lourdes and there have been around 7,000 claims of miraculous cures of which 70 have been recognised by the Church after the most rigorous investigation. In my book, I explain the timeless message that Our Lady gave at Lourdes, and show the strong link with the apparitions at Fatima 59 years later. Mary, The Immaculate Conception, played a unique and essential role in Jesus becoming incarnate in our world and she continues to play a vital role in helping souls along the path to Archbishop Peter celebrating Mass at the grotto during last year’s diocesan pilgrimage. Page 6 John Toryusen, director of Southwark Catholic Youth Service, with Canon Edward Perera, director of the diocesan pilgrimage.
The Pilgrim June 2018 Feature David Pepworth explains how Hosanna House and Children’s Pilgrimage Trust (HCPT) changed the face of pilgrimages in Lourdes God’s love and to eternal life. Quite simply, the message of Lourdes doesn’t belong in our history books but in our hearts. Bernadette once said, “Yes, dear Mother, you have come down to the earth to appear to a weak child. You, Queen of heaven and earth, have chosen what was the most humble according to the world.” There’s so much to see at Lourdes, such as the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, which was built above the original little chapel at the grotto, with the chapel becoming the crypt for the basilica. Interestingly, Bernadette’s father was one of the labourers who built the original chapel! Then there’s the 1500-seat Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, which was built below and in front of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. But the largest of the three basilicas is the Basilica of Saint Pius X (commonly known as the underground basilica), which opened in 1958 and which can accommodate 25,000 people. The last church to be built was the Church of Saint Bernadette, which opened in 1988. It was constructed on the other side of the River Gave, at the exact spot where Bernadette knelt down in prayer during the 18th and final apparition. I found that visiting Lourdes enriched my faith, and it has stayed in my heart since that winter’s day in 1985. • Lourdes Message Today by Paul de Marco is available on Amazon as a paperback or as an e-book. This Easter, and every Easter, hundreds of British children awakened the streets of Lourdes with songs and laughter. For many, it is their first proper holiday, and one they probably imagined they would never get to enjoy because of either their disabilities or difficult lives back home. It is a fun, prayer-filled week made possible by the charity HCPT. Since its creation in 1956, HCPT has been a unique presence in Lourdes - one that in its own humble way has shown others another way to do pilgrimage. A way that has inspired many. Let us not forget that in the 1950s disabled and sick pilgrims would always stay in hospitals in the town, with those who joined them residing in hotels. HCPT’s founder, Brother Michael Strode, then a doctor at a school for disabled children in Sussex, changed that by insisting that everyone stayed together in hotels. That simple yet revolutionary approach helped shape the inclusive Lourdes pilgrimages many disabled people enjoy today. Amongst other things, HCPT groups were also the first to carry banners and to include its disabled pilgrims as active participants in processions. HCPT’s Easter pilgrimage, with the children joined by thousands of helpers, nurses and priests, is the largest from UK. The pilgrimage itself is made up of nearly 150 small groups based throughout the UK and beyond, ensuring the children can benefit from the intimacy of being the focus of a caring family-sized party. Their group does everything together – be it daily Mass, night prayers, meals, or trips to local attractions, the mountains or to the seaside. Everyone is included, and everyone brings their own talents and abilities. The sense of belonging every child has for their HCPT group is amplified by the fact that every group has its own distinct look – whether it is the colour or design of their tops, their trousers or their headgear. Individually the groups are little teams working for each other, working to give the children the best week of their lives. Altogether, the groups are a vibrant sea of colour. The story of St Bernadette speaks to us all, but never louder and more clearly than to children. They relate to her because of her young age at the time of the apparitions, and for the burdens of illness and struggle she too carried. They can see a little of themselves in her. Even though concepts like apparitions, the Immaculate Conception or adoration of the Blessed Sacrament are complicated for many children, they are easily touched by the simple symbols of water, rock and light that a central to the Lourdes. Having fun at Hosanna House in Bartres, near Lourdes. The children, like everyone else who travels to Lourdes, are answering Our Lady’s call. Through God’s grace many find the trip to be life-changing. Children return home with more confidence, independence and selfesteem. Academic research undertaken on the pilgrimage found that 45 per cent of parents said that their children experienced long term benefits after their stay in Lourdes. During the summer HCPT’s work continues with pilgrimages for disabled and disadvantaged people of all ages at its Hosanna House in the hills above Lourdes – a much quieter, but no less meaningful version of the Easter experience. To learn more about HCPT, visit www.hcpt.org.uk or phone 01788 564646. Catholic journalism at its best ... Subscribe today Digital Edition ONLY £12 a year FIRST 4 WEEKS FREE The Universe : world news, current affairs, lifestyle supplements and a quarterly U Education magazine all available each week digitally Universe Media T: 0161 908 5301 Join us on the journey ... There’s no shortage of religious souvenirs in Lourdes. www.thecatholicuniverse.com/shop/subscribe-digital.html Page 7
Page 1 and 2: Issue 72 June 2018 Why do pilgrims
Page 3 and 4: The Pilgrim June 2018 Remembering J
Page 5: The Pilgrim June 2018 Feature Journ
Page 9 and 10: The Pilgrim June 2018 Pope Francis
Page 11 and 12: The Pilgrim June 2018 Feature/Diary

Issue 72 - The Pilgrim - June 2018 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

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