All Saints Catholic College has a long tradition of joining the Leeds Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes with hundreds of students and staff over the years connecting with the place where Our Lady appeared to St Bernadette in 1858. Joining the Pilgrimage is a recognition of our community’s commitment to love and service to others in the work that the youth section undertakes with the assisted pilgrims. The students ensure that the assisted pilgrims can attend the masses and services that take place throughout the week. Lourdes is a deeply spiritual place of retreat, a place where friendships are forged and the soul is nourished.
Expect your days to be busy and filled with many different experiences. You will travel and serve as a school group and as part of the larger youth pilgrimage. Everywhere you will see a sea of yellow as you wear your Leeds Diocesan colours. On arrival we book into the hotel and then are welcomed at the opening mass. We have a first look at the domain where Our Lady appeared to St Bernadette and get our bearings for the rest of the week. There is a full timetable of masses, services, torchlight processions, water services, prayer vigils at the grotto and individual reflection time. For each event we will have a specific role, with one event where we take the lead. We gather as the youth group for catechesis to have fun and learn about all the different services we will participate in.
We spend time in different services and masses for our own spiritual growth and also enable the assisted pilgrims to attend. We attend the international mass in the underground Basilica that holds thousands and is held in a variety of languages. At times we will experience smaller services and times of prayer with smaller numbers such as a prayer vigil at the grotto. The Blessed place that is Lourdes domain adds an added dimension to our collective worship and is often a very moving experience. This is especially so at our mass of healing and reconciliation services. As most acts of collective worship in Lourdes include a procession there is a real sense of occasion, gathering and sharing of the faith. Altar servers and musicians will have the opportunity to take part in masses and serve alongside the Bishop.
From the moment we sign up to the Lourdes pilgrimage we are joined through prayer, praying for our spiritual journey and for each of us on the pilgrimage. We gather the prayers and petitions from the school community and parish to take to the grotto to be remembered in mass. Our pilgrimage takes us closer to God through the many opportunities for silent prayer and reflection and through sharing testimony of our faith journey. Near the grotto we light a candle from the school community to symbolise our prayers and pilgrimage and the shared spiritual journey we are on.
A big part of the pilgrimage is about getting to know each other and to have fun. We will have free time to explore the domain, go shopping, buy souvenirs, and enjoy ice-creams, crepes and coffees at the various cafes. There will be time to socialise with students from other schools and the assisted pilgrims. During the garden party there is the opportunity to share your musical talents as we provide the entertainment for the party. The hotel has a lobby that we spend time in before and after major events and where we gather before meals. As a school group we also choose an optional activity on a free afternoon which in the past has been a ride on the land train or a picnic in the park.
“Visit Lourdes at least once in your life. As a student the sense of giving to others that need help is a feeling that can’t be replaced with any other, the bond you make with your pilgrims is one that will stay with you forever, it also gives you an opportunity for prayer and reflection and think about your own faith regardless if you have faith or not. As a member of staff you too have time to reflect but to experience our students living this out is so very special. Its really hard work but everyday and night is so special and you will meet some amazing people along the way.”
Mrs Keegan
“Just a really lovely place, and an experience that is hard to put into words to describe to others. It’s the kind of place if you have been you know what it is but if you haven’t someone else describing it to you doesn’t do it justice.”
Mr Smith
“Lourdes is a unique place, a place of belonging, purpose and of being with other young Christians on the same path and journey, from both the Diocese of Leeds and all over the world. When I went, this feeling was ever-present, such as when walking the torchlight procession in the domain to even staying at the accommodation and seeing other Diocesan members, no matter your circumstances. By being there, still in a worldly town, you are there to immerse yourself in your Christian faith, physically and spiritually.
Once there, you could finally see Lourdes and the Grotto for yourself in all its glory and tangibility, like a light at the end of the tunnel after the long but memorable coach journey. As a Christian, I have always seen and heard of people’s experiences on pilgrimage there, but you never know the true size and scale until you are faced with the thing itself. You finally experience the very place the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette, telling her to ‘build a chapel here’: you feel you become a small brick in the spiritual structure of the history of Lourdes, answering Mary’s call.
My most memorable experience was the very moving vigil at the Grotto, lighting candles – just like the Lourdes healing water, the tears flow.
Overall, it was a truly great, immense, fun and awesome experience, one which I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Jacob Lourdes Pilgrim 2023