This site of the sanctuary of Lourdes is important for Christians since it is there, in the hollow of the rock, that the Virgin appeared to little Bernadette Soubirous, in 1858.
In the afternoon, the hospital staff accompanied the sick to the Stations of the Cross in the meadow along the Gave.
Parenthesis
The statues of the marble stations were made in 2005 by the artist Maria de Faykod in order to allow the sick to live a way of the cross accessible to them.
The pilgrims followed a route through the city in the footsteps of Bernadette, from the parish church where she was baptized to the Boly mill where she spent her childhood to the dungeon where her family lived at the time of the apparitions.
Sandrine, baptized at Easter 2021, had been waiting for a long time to be able to come. His joy is indescribable: “I will never forget this week which will remain engraved in me. “
Anne-Marie, who is coming for the first time, considers this week as “a parenthesis” in her life where she takes the time to pray.
Pilgrimage of the diocese of Chartres to the sanctuary of Lourdes: young people question Bishop Philippe Christory
Pierre-Henry, who had never been to Lourdes, was surprised by the great devotion of the pilgrims and made beautiful meetings and engaged in fruitful discussions.
Patricia appreciates here a “living together” which grows her in her faith. As for Jean-Paul, he finds in this sanctuary “interior peace”.
Finally, Geneviève, 95 – perhaps the dean – who came with six parishioners from Bonneval, feels “happy in the atmosphere of friendship and prayer and hopes to return next year”.
– .
