More than two hundred pilgrims, one shrine, and a week that sent them home lighter than they came.
At the back of the crowd at the Grotto, out of everyone’s sight, Stephen asked Emily to marry him. “Hardly anyone noticed,” he says. “Which was rather the point.” She said yes.
It was the first day of the pilgrimage, a year to the week after the two of them had met in the same place, the Grotto, the cave shrine at the heart of Lourdes. Emily (Epiphany, Amber Valley) and Stephen (St Peter’s & Blessed Sacrament, West Leicester) had come the summer before as young adult helpers, given the same job most days: walk at the back, make sure nobody gets lost. “Which just meant,” Emily says, “we ended up hanging out quite a lot.”
She’d almost not come at all. “I thought I might find it commercialised.” Instead: “I was quite transformed by it, really.” This year she came back thankful, “to thank Our Lady for interceding, for putting us in the same place at the same time.” Stephen had a ring and no way to plan the moment, so he chose to trust it: “Just as we were guided together in the first place, I’ll be guided in this.”
“It feels surreal,” Emily says. “But very natural. Like it’s how we’re meant to be. It felt like Mary was literally guiding our hand. Right, Stephen, you go here. Emily, you go there.”
They were two of more than two hundred who travelled to Lourdes this last July: a schools’ contingent, a group of young adults out as helpers, young people with the diocese’s youth service (NDCYS), and pilgrims of every age from across the diocese, with Bishop Patrick leading them. The first day saw strangers introducing themselves over the first shared meal; older pilgrims telling their stories to younger ones; the diocese gathered for the Opening Mass at Saint Joseph’s Chapel.
For some, this experience was familiar. Joseph, of St Francis of Assisi Parish (Newark, Southwell and New Ollerton), was on his twenty-fourth pilgrimage to Lourdes. He came first in 1997, went home lighter, and has been coming back ever since. Ask him why he keeps returning and he doesn’t start with himself: “I come to Lourdes to remember those who are no longer with us; be it because of their advancing years, or because of terminal illnesses.” And he’ll tell you what Lourdes seems to do that the world rarely does: “Humanity is at its very summit here. The humanity of holiness, and serenity, and graciousness. And the dignity to respect everyone… That’s one thing that is alien here in Lourdes: inhumanity.”
Each day had its own rhythm: Mass at the Grotto in the cool of the morning, the pilgrimage photograph in Rosary Square, the long patient line to pass through the Grotto itself, candles lit at the Chapel of Light, and the Low Stations of the Cross prayed on the Prairie (the open meadow across from the Grotto).
Grace and Lily, of the Holy Family Cluster Parish in Leicester, were back for a second year, and still politely arguing about who talks first. They had fundraised their places on the pilgrimage. “Being able to serve here, you can’t explain what it means to someone unless they have a go themselves,” says Grace. Lily shared that “it felt different to be in a church here. Praying felt different, so I wanted to come back.” However, the same moment seemed to connect with them both. “Everyone comes together as one,” says Lily. “All these different churches,” says Grace. “They celebrate the same thing, in different ways.”
The International Mass filled the underground Basilica of Saint Pius X, a church that seats thousands; then came the Rosary for Vocations on the Prairie and torchlight and Eucharistic processions through the sanctuary, daily. Michael, who is training to be a priest for our diocese, will tell you Lourdes changed the course of his life, and he can point to exactly to the experience that did it. “You see so much faith in action here: the helpers caring for the assisted pilgrims, the processions, the Masses, the Rosaries at the Grotto. It has a huge impact on your discernment.” And he knows where he hopes it leads: “I’d love to come back, hopefully as a priest, and celebrate Mass here at the Grotto, in the Underground Basilica, in the smaller chapels around the domain.”
On the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel came Mass with the Anointing of the Sick, the Church’s sacrament for those who are ill. Then, on the Prairie, pilgrims washed themselves with water from the spring, and drank a little of it. John, from Our Lady and All Saints Parish in Mansfield, was here for the first time. He felt something shift during the pilgrimage: “I know she’s doing something to me. Our Lady’s changing me. When I was younger, I was not like this at all.” When asked how does it feel, he answered; “I feel alive. Best I’ve ever felt in my life.” His words to anyone hesitating about coming on the pilgrimage for the first time? “Just come. Don’t be shy. Don’t be frightened. Just believe in God.”
The Closing Mass was celebrated in the Rosary Basilica, followed by a garden party and the journey home. Most went home a little lighter, some experienced a change, two were engaged. And Joseph, on his twenty-fourth pilgrimage, left those following the pilgrimage virtually with these words: “keep on digging, keep on searching for that eternal spring. And there is that eternal spring in everyone’s hearts and souls.”
If anything in this article has resonated with you, the diocese travels to Lourdes together every Summer; and there is room for you to join us. Whether you come to pray, to help or to experience what Emily nearly talked herself out of last year, then you are most welcome. You can register your interest for the 2027 pilgrimage here: https://www.tangney-tours.com/diocese-pilgrimages/diocese-nottingham-2/ Relive the pilgrimage on our Flickr https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCZDoc and check out the highlights on our social media channels.
And you were with us, too. Across Facebook and Instagram, this year's pilgrimage was viewed more than half a million times (524.5K), reaching over 130,000 people and drawing close to 22,000 likes, comments and shares — and more than 1,100 of you began following the diocese for the very first time. To everyone who prayed alongside us from home, followed the daily updates, and lit a candle in spirit: thank you. You walked every step of the way with us.
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