Welcome to The Raphael Pilgrimage to Lourdes 2023
Lourdes Theme for 2023 - “Go and tell the priests, to build a chapel”
This year we will have a limited number of spaces available, we are travelling by Air with British Airways from London Heathrow and staying in one hotel, the Beau Site. We look forward to welcoming you on pilgrimage!
It will be three years since we were last able to come to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes We come with a mixture of joy, sadness and trepidation. Much has changed since 2019. Not only have we suffered the pandemic but now we are witnessing aggression in the Ukraine while at the same time we have also lost some dear friends. For our safety and protection protocols are in place in Lourdes and, sadly, we are not able to immerse ourselves in the Piscines, the Baths. We have to adapt our expectations to the changing circumstances just as the Shrine of our Lady of Lourdes has done.
The theme of the year in 2022 is ‘ Go and tell the priests’. On 2nd March 1858 during the 13th apparition Our Lady commanded St Bernadette ’Go tell the priests to come in procession and to build a chapel here’. Despite her parish priest Abbé Peyramale dismissing Bernadette and forbidding her from visiting the Grotto he was finally convinced of the veracity of the visions.
Itinerary - to be confirmed
There will be a full spiritual programme organised by the diocese every day