Up to 500 people are expected to take part in the annual Clogher Diocese pilgrimage to Lough Derg, which will take place this Saturday 26 May.
Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland,His Excellency Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, will join the pilgrims on the day in what will be his first visit to the Sanctuary of Saint Patrick since he took up his appointment to Ireland last year.
The pilgrimage will be led by the Diocesan Administrator, Monsignor Joseph McGuinness, and will see up to 500 pilgrims travel from the 37 parishes across the Diocese of Clogher.
Pilgrims will be welcomed by the Prior of Lough Derg, Fr La Flynn and the Lough Derg team. The retreat will conclude with the celebration of the Eucharist in the early afternoon.
The island Sanctuary of Lough Derg lies about four miles north of the village of Pettigo in County Donegal. Station Island, the location of the Pilgrimage, is often referred to as Saint Patrick’s Purgatory or simply Lough Derg. In 1780 Lough Derg came under the custodianship of the Diocese of Clogher.
Over the past 150 years, over two million people have visited the island to take part in the various exercises of prayer and conversion. Lough Derg invites people to take a detour from the daily routine, to discover the difference a day on the sacred Island can make.
Lough Derg pilgrimage season for 2018 opened on Saturday 5 May, with One Day Retreats continuing until the end of the month. Three Day Pilgrimage season will take place between Friday 1 June and 15 August.
The three-day pilgrimage follows a 1000-year-old pattern of prayer. Over the course of the three days, pilgrims will take part in various spiritual activities, including a 24-hour vigil and the completion of nine ‘Station’ prayers at various locations on the island, along with fasting and prayer and reflection in bare feet.
For more information, please see www.loughderg.org.
