I've finally managed to sort through my photos of Lourdes. I found I had taken far fewer than I had thought... and then realised that Fr. Tim had given me his camera on several occasions (he knows how much I hate being photographed myself.) One or two of the photos have already made an appearance on his blog. I shall have to see if I can get copies of the others.
Here you can see most of the children with the two chaplains (Fr. Tim Finigan and Fr. Charles Briggs - the latest non-blogging priest to keep cropping up on the Catholic Blogosphere!) outside the old Presbytery where Dean Peyramale lived. The pilgrimage was really great; having eleven children along made it that little bit more special - they really seemed to enjoy themselves. I guess that a pilgrimage to Lourdes isn't the most obvious place to take young children, but they can get a lot out of the experience, and they then know first-hand what a pilgrimage actually
is... so many times, when I was teaching RE, I heard children dismiss the idea of going on pilgrimage because it would be "just praying all the time!"
Wednesday morning is the International Mass in the Underground Basilica. I already knew, from previous visits, that, in order to secure a seat, one had to turn up
early... however, this year was the first time that I found all the seats completely taken a whole hour
before Mass started...
The Basilica comfortably seats 10,000. I was told that 40,000 attended this Mass. I didn't - after having come down early, I took one look at the crowds already there, and another at the crowds still pouring in, and, after taking this photo, I turned tail and fled!
The sheer number of people was quite a shock. We went on our "Jubilee Way" walk on the Wednesday afternoon, and found that rather a lot of other people had the same idea... The photo on the left shows the street outside the
Cachot, the condemned prison where the Soubirous family were living at the time of the Apparitions.
By the time we battled through and collected our stickers we were feeling a little shaken... when we arrived at the Parish Church where Bernadette was baptised, we realised that the children would be in serious danger of getting squashed... and I had no intention of trying to get up the front steps without being able to use a handrail. We said our prayers outside the church, decided to give the Hospital Chapel a complete miss, and headed back to the
Domaine.
The number of pilgrims present made finding a place for quiet prayer very difficult. The area across the river from the Grotto was quite a good spot, as was the walkway between the river and the Reconciliation Chapel. I have to say that the huge crowds really did seem to change the atmosphere of Lourdes: people were less tolerant and more impatient than usual, though the atmosphere was still much better than you'd find elsewhere with these numbers.
Just to give you an idea of the difference: the first two photos are from this year's pilgrimage - taken from outside the
Chapel St. Michel, the third one is taken from about the same place, though last year...
Don't misunderstand me - Lourdes was still an amazing place to be. And the majority of people were fabulous. It's just that the sheer numbers made things a bit more tricky than usual.
The wonderful Sisters of the Gospel of Life have come up with a new initiative. I assume that it's called "Tiny Feet" because of the pro-life symbol worn by many, showing a baby's feet, perfectly formed, at ten weeks' gestation (I could be wrong here!)
