The annual Killaloe Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes takes place this week. Led by Bishop Fintan Monahan, 500 pilgrims from across the diocese departed from Shannon Airport today, Monday 26 June, returning Saturday 1 July.
Bishop Fintan Monahan departing for Lourdes
This year’s pilgrimage, the first to be led by Bishop Monahan since his appointment last year, marks the 61st year of pilgrimages to Lourdes from the Diocese of Killaloe.
Among the 500 pilgrims travelling today will be 55 assisted and sick pilgrims, along with 48 young people aged 16‒18 from parishes and secondary schools throughout the diocese.
On their pilgrimage to Lourdes, the pilgrims will celebrate Mass at the Grotto of the Apparition and in the Basilica of the Most Holy Rosary and partake in the Torchlight Marian Procession.
Each day on the pilgrimage, those travelling will create a video diary which will be posted on the Killaloe Diocese Facebook page. The first entry, from pilgrimage director Father Tom Ryan, PP of Shannon Parish is now available.
For more information on the Killaloe pilgrimage to Lourdes see www.killaloediocese.ie.
Lourdes, a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, rose to prominence in 1858 due to the Marian apparitions seen by Bernadette Soubirous, who was later canonized. Today, Lourdes hosts around six million visitors every year from all corners of the world. This constant stream of pilgrims and tourists has transformed Lourdes into the second most important centre of tourism in France, second only to Paris, and the third most important site of international Catholic pilgrimage after Rome and the Holy Land.
ENDS
