A Lourdes Year

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 39, 5 October 1922, Page 27

A Lourdes Year

There were certain timid souls who, shortly after the war, feared that the day of Lourdes was over, and that the great .crowds of 'pilgrims would never come back. But the war, which devastated Europe for .four years with its horrible carnage, has not stayed the tide of pilgrims to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes (writes Edmond Duthoit). It became evident that the Catholics of the whole world, and particularly the Catholics of France, were impatient once more- to renew their pilgrimages to the shrine. And the French'bishops have made good their promises to lead their dioceses, in the pilgrimages of thanksgiving, tothe steps of the Grotto. On the- morrow of the Armistice, as ' well as the year following, the difficulties of transportation were such as to prevent the bishops carrying out the fulfilment of their promises. Yet the pilgrims have come in ever increasing throngs; old soldiers who vowed the pilgrimage during the war came to fulfil their vows; widows and disconsolate mothers, who having lost husband or children, came for consolation to the Mother of the Afflicted, Yet, in spite of the transportation difficulties, the diocese of Montpellier, headed by the late Cardinal Cabrieres, its valiant Bishop, made its votive pilgrimage in 1919, and it was followed in 1920 by the dioceses of Paris, Angouleme, Angers, . Nancy. Rouen, and Toulouse^ But it is the year 1921 that marks definitely the renewal of the pilgrimages. From April 15 until October 18 there was an unending flow of pilgrims. While during the three months of August, September, and October there was not a week with fewer than five or six pilgrimages at a time. And these pilgrims arrived from all parts of France. Normans and Bretons, Alsatians, and Lorrainers, Provencals and Bourguignons, Gascons and Auvergnese, passed day after day in throngs before the rock of Massabieille. It was like a picturesque and edifying vision of France, France Christian and religious. And then the foreign pilgrimages began once more, as in the days before the war. As might be expected, faithful Belgium was the first to return with 13 pilgrimages, not counting the numerous small groups. Spain came next that year,- with its six imposing pilgrimages. Then followed Itali, with its great national pilgrimage that was headed by" the Archbishop of Milan, the then Cardinal Ratti Pio XL, yloriosa-inente regnant el Then there was the pilgrimage of the French Swiss, the two great pilgrimages from England, the pilgrimage of the Irish Catholics, one from Holland ,and one from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. As to the total number of pilgrims for the year, let it suffice to point out that down to last October at the railway station of Lourdes alone there were 750,000 cards verified. Among the year’s pilgrims' to the Grotto the Princes of the Church are particularly to be distinguished; for the record of the year shows that more than one* hundred archbishops and bishops and no fewer than seven cardinals passed the foot of the Grotto. It is out-of the question to say how many priests visited Lourdes. But here is the figure for the Masses celebrated in the Lourdes sanctuaries —45,500. And the number of Communions given approached something like 800,000. Much structural progress has been made during this Lourdes year under review. The Interallied Monument of Thanksgiving, which is to commemorate the noble dead of the war, is going on well, thanks to the goodwill of the pilgrims. Above the subterranean crypt, now completely finished, have already been placed the marble slabs on which is represented a tableau both religious and military, and which doubtless will dominate the statue of Notre Dame de Lourdes. It is hoped that this work of art will be commensurate in dignity with the noble generosity of the heroic soldiers whoso memory it honors. The decoration of the Church of the Rosary goes ahead. The walls are gradually disappearing under the rich layers of Pyrenean rose marble, on which is to be inscribed in letters of gold the numerous witnesses of graces and cures accorded bv Our Lady of Lourdes. Last of all there is the grand project of enlarging the space at the Grotto. It will place more room at the disposal of the pilgrims, and provide more room for the sick who wish to be present at the Masses and other sacred ceremonies.

When the family cirilo is broken and scattered and we have but the memory of those whom we have “loved and lost awhile,” in the heart’s silent times we can hear again the dear, familiar words as potent .as the “still small voice” at Horeb’s cave. And the rarest treasure of the soul will be the sweet remembrance of this “practice of the presence of God” at the family altar.