Lourdes - the most peaceful place on Earth!

Our diesel rental car does fine on the French highways. I stay right at the speed limit or below since I have no way of talking my way out of a ticket in French!

The countryside in southern France is beautiful rolling farmland. 

We bought some bread and cheese in Marseilles and stopped for lunch at one of the many rest stops along the toll roads.

We had never seen a rest stop with concrete recliners before!

Hotel Helgon is only a few minutes walk to the Grotto and is very nice. We used Tripadviser.com to review the hotel and Bookings.com to make the reservation. The front desk manager is very nice and even offered to feed the parking meter for us (a twice a day occurrence - if you have a hotel tag, it is 2 Euro twice a day)

The room is on the top (sixth) floor and is snug but adequate.

As snug as the room is, the bathroom is snugger!

Our view from the room is the tops of other hotels! On this side of the river, it is hotel after hotel! On the top right, you can see the spire of the basilica peeking through the trees!

Pilgrims have left many crosses near the entry cross

Facing the basilica is this wonderful statue of Our Lady or Lourdes. The women in uniform are volunteer nurses from all over the world who come here to assist the infirm.

The lower basilica is actually the second. The top was first but was quickly outgrown. When the lower basilica was also outgrown, an underground basilica was built that will accommodate 25,000 people! It is long (625') and narrow (200') and has the general shape of a boat - the barque of Peter! 

The centerpiece however, is the grotto where Our Lady appeared to St Bernadette Soubirous, a nearly illiterate teenager who waited by the refuse dump on the shore of the Grave River while her sisters went across to look for firewood. While they were gone, Our Lady appeared. At the left is the spring that appeared when Mary told Bernadette to drink from the spring. Bernadette scratched in the ground but only found mud. The next day a spring was flowing hundred of gallons each minute. Many have found the water to have healing powers.

When Bernadette asked the Lady what her name was she answered "I am the Immaculate Conception"  This confounded the priests since the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception had only been promulgated two years prior and there was no way Bernadette could have known.

We prayed a rosary at the grotto and discovered a procession of the Blessed Sacrament in process in front of the basilica.

The Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament is on the altar and will be carried by a priest to the underground Basilica of St Pius X (the big one).

The procession

Along the way is this wonderful statue set indicating the simple life of Bernadette before Our Lady appeared.

The procession passes by

Saturday morning early (see the moon at the top) we went to the Grotto for mass

So many people buy and offer candles, you must put your candle in the hopper and it will be used in its turn - maybe days later!

After mass, we visited the lower basilica - a beautiful church!

There are 15 niches each depicting a mystery of the Rosary. When Pope John-Paul the Great gave the church the Luminous Mysteries, they were added to the front of the basilica. This panel is the presentation of Jesus in the Temple on the 8th day.

Here is the Birth of Christ.  We prayed the joyful mysteries in front of these panels!

The view across the basilica from the Joyful Mysteries

When we came out, the sun was shining brightly and it was noticeably warmer!

The side ramps on each side sweep up toward the upper basilica

At the top of the ramp, the dome from the lower basilica forms a wonderful balcony - and a great photo spot!

The sweeping ramps are lined with statues - this one is St Anne and St Mary as a child

The upper basilica 

From the upper basilica, you can see the worshipers at the grotto. This mass is especially for the infirm, hence the many wheel chairs and "gurneys"

The crypt of the upper basilica contains fragments of bone from St Bernadette. Of course, we were privileged to visit Nevers, France as viewed the incorrupt body of St Bernadette in the chapel there. 

At the entrance of the crypt is a statue of St Peter.

In the crypt is this statue of the Sacred Heartof Jesus. We both thought back to our visit to Paray de Monial with Fr Pacwa where we learned the origins of the Sacred Heart

The upper basilica is a wonderful church which would be large in any other setting. But for the millions who visit Lourdes each year, it was soon too small

A side altar with a statue of St Francis Xavier. Of course we will always think of Fr Mitch Pacwa when we encounter St Francis Xavier - founder of the Jesuits!

And of course, one of our parish's (Saints Francis & Clare of Assisi) patrons

We then decided to pray the Stations of the Cross. Lourdes has one of the most wonderful stations along a path maybe 1/2 mile long. The first 12 are all up hill and require hiking up a 5% grade. All in all, you must go up about 500 feet by the time you reach the highest.  Here is the first station - Jesus is condemned to die by Pilate. Many pilgrims climb the stairs on their knees just as in Rome where the "Santa Scala" Sacred Stairs are preserved near St John Lateran.

Here, Jesus falls for the first time. Note the angry Jews at the right shouting insults

Jesus falls the third time. Many pilgrims reach up and touch Jesus' hand.

The Twelfth Station - Jesus dies on the cross

The depiction of the pieta - the sorrow of Our Lady as she cradled Jesus's body at the foot of the cross

Jesus' body is laid in the tomb. At the left, St John kneels and touches Jesus' lifeless hand. To the right of St John is a woman with a child which we puzzled over. If anyone knows what that depicts, please let us know

This shot gives an idea how high the hill is. This is at the end - if it were at th beginning, maybe some would look at how high you have to climb and think twice!

As we walked back to the grotto after supper, Theresa thought we shouls share that the 5 minute walk includes these steps - a piece of cake when going but much harder coming home!

We joined in the Eucharistic Procession tonight. This is a shot from one end of the St Pius X Basilica. You can see the ribs of the boat without much imagination!

The crucifix is ultra modern

Once inside the basilica, we could follow along on big screens where the procession was and also read the words to the music.

Finally the Blessed Sacrament arrives in a cloud of smoke - incense that is.

Adoration

During adoration, these guys (I'm guessing seminarians) had to endure the smoke. Some do better than others - note the guy to the right is holding his censer over his head.

Finally a blessing from the Lord Himself!

After morning mass tomorrow (Sunday) we will head out for the Atlantic (West) coast, stopping at La Rochelle - mainly because it is about half way and it is on the coast!

Until then, au revoir!