Lourdes is ‘a place apart’. Without doubt a place of prayer but also of peace and consolation, where the pilgrim can pour out their troubles, worries, anxieties in wordless conversation with Our Lady. A place where the pilgrim may hear God speak to them in their hearts. A place, in the first instance of Our Lady, quietly showing the way to her Son.

Lourdes is situated in the foothills of the Pyrenees in S W France. The story begins with a young girl, Bernadette Soubirous, the eldest of nine children. In 1858, Our Lady first appeared to Bernadette in the cave of Massabielle on February 11th of that year. She was to appear a further 17 times. Every fifty years since then has been a Jubilee year and this year in Lourdes we celebrate the 150th Anniversary of those apparitions. It is a wonderful opportunity for the Diocese to gather as a family in Lourdes to answer Our Lady’s call.

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