Lourdes - Day Four

It was still dark as we left the hotel before 6.00am. The shops were shuttered, the streets quiet, no traffic, just a refuse truck collecting bins. It had rained heavily the night before and the air seemed fresher – and it was quite chilly.



Basilica at dawn (opposite entrance to High Stations)

When we reached the entrance to the High Stations of the Cross, the A&B group gathered around Father Rob, over 100 people, including all the Redshirts. The Stations we were assembling to visit were built just over 100 years ago on a steep hill overlooking the Domaine. The 115 gilded cast iron figures of the 15 Stations are set on either side of a winding stony path, 1500 metres long, in a steeply wooded area.

As we climbed the hill - panting ever so slightly – the clear blue sky grew increasingly brighter, snow glistened on the Pyrenees Mountains in the distance, and the occasional birdsong broke the silence. In some places the trees overshadowed the path and raindrops fell and splattered us. Fr. Rob introduced each station, and we knelt briefly, saying ‘We adore You O Christ, we praise You, For by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.’ A Redshirt then read a personal meditation, we prayed, and moved on to the next station, quietly singing ‘Jesus remember me when you come into Your kingdom.’

 

At the last Station we exchanged the Sign of Peace and happily trotted off to breakfast. Although it was still before 8.00am, some souvenir shops were already open, people had begun to stream towards the Domaine, traffic was denser, and a few early beggars were already at ‘work,’ begging cups outstretched.  

Then followed the morning Mass in the Church of St Bernadette, a special sign Mass celebrated by Fr. Ian Byrnes (assisted at one stage by a bemused-looking Bishop Kieran).  We gathered in a shady area before processing into church, past the usual honour guard of Redshirts.

 

It was fascinating to watch Fr. Ian celebrate a signed Mass, the deliberate expansive gestures full of meaning, like a foreign language but maybe a Romance language where it is possible to guess the meaning because many words have a common root. Deacon Tim Murrill gave the homily, asking the rhetorical question “why have we come here?” The answer “Mary brought us” was accompanied by a request to take the time to listen to God, not be too quick to interrupt him. Then several of the deaf and hard of hearing stood on the altar and signed the Prayer of the Faithful as a helper said the words .

 

 After lunch, veal again (banquette de veau riz rond), it was time for an hour's sleep before heading off to the 5.00pm Blessed Sacrament Procession. Except there wasn’t a traditional procession since (I’m told) one of the bridges had been damaged. Instead, each hotel group of the diocese formed up - Hotel Europe photo below - and entered the Basilica of Pius X, joining all the other pilgrims in Lourdes at this time. The wheelchair-bound sick were arranged in a circle around the altar.

For this ceremony the choir was swelled by the A&B contingent who lent an authentic and musical voice to the English language hymns and chants.

After the usual procession of banners, the priests entered…and entered…and entered. There were easily several dozen priests and a clutch of bishops. Servers holding bowls of incense moved to the altar, incensing it in swirling clouds, while other severs solemnly processed to it holding lit candles. The Blessed Sacrament, in a golden monstrance, was then exposed on the altar. After hymns, announcements and chants in several languages, the celebrant and his two deacons/sub deacons moved to the side of the altar and, kneeling side-by-side on three prie dieux, prayed and adored the Blessed Sacrament.  

 

The high point was when the celebrant, wearing a humeral veil, carried the monstrance to the sick, accompanied by servers holding an ombrellino, an umbrella-like canopy, above the monstrance. He paused before each group and momentarily raised the monstrance for adoration.

The service took just under an hour and the hungry Hotel Europe contindent hurried back to the hotel where dinner was a pork dish, rote de porc au four choucrute, followed by by a coffee éclair for desert. A perfect end to a lovely day.