Order of Malta - Canada - Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order

The Annual Lourdes Pilgrimage 2008

This year is the 150th Anniversary of the apparition of our Lady at Lourdes. This is a very special year
at Lourdes. All members of the Canadian Association are urged to make the Pilgrimage.

Roman Catholics believe that our Blessed Mother appeared to a French peasant girl – Bernadette Soubirous – on 18 occasions over a period of months in 1858. Our Lady requested that people come to Lourdes on pilgrimage. Lourdes draws six million people a year.

After careful examination, the Catholic Church declared the events at Lourdes worthy of belief and has encouraged Catholics to pray to our Lady of Lourdes. It, however, does not insist that Catholics believe this historical event as an Article of Faith.

The Church has recognized 66 miracles there; the International Medical Committee of Lourdes, a group of about 20 physicians, has certified another 2,000 unexplained cures. Many of the pilgrims are sick hoping for physical healing and often experience interior miracles – people who are ill, even dying, who are able to leave Lourdes with an inner peace they did not feel before. Bernadette died in 1879, was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1933 by Pope Pius XI. Pope John Paul II visited Lourdes again in August, 2004. He has made Marian piety one of the centerpieces of his papacy.

The International Order of Malta Pilgrimage to Lourdes is generally held from the first Friday in May for one week. Over 5,000 pilgrims – members of the Order, auxiliary, clergy, physicians and nurses – bring hospital pilgrims and their caregivers to Lourdes from throughout the world. Last year some 30 members and their families of the Canadian Association came to Lourdes.

The Canadian Association has been participating in the International Order of Malta Pilgrimage to Lourdes since about 1993.

During the pilgrimage, we wear the service uniform of the Order with a badge showing our nationality on our left shoulders and for the dames and lady helpers on a badge on the front of their uniforms. We join with our confreres throughout the world in living the 900-year-old mission of the Order; Obsequim pauperum (service to the sick and the poor) and tuitio fidei (witness or defense of the faith).

Back row (left to right): Countess Dobezensky, H. E. Dan Kelly, President, American Association, H.E. Peter Quail, President, Canadian Association, Dominic Quail, Count Debezensky, William Sullivan, Iain Benson, Frank McCullough, Dr. Shine, Roman Ciewierz, a member of the Brazilian Association. Front row (left to right): Teeny McCullough, Rose Kelly, Patricia Quail, Msgr LeCoste, Eleanor Benson, Mrs. Shine, Fr. Lauzon, John Dunlop. In Front: Andrea Juby, Stephanie McCullough

As a relatively new member of the Order of Malta, I have attended as many functions of the Order as possible and have spoken with as many members to get a feel for the Order, the expectations of its members, the scope of the work accomplished in Canada, and potential opportunities where one could make a difference.

It probably comes as no surprise that one of the activities I had heard about, with some enthusiasm, is the annual pilgrimage to Lourdes. The Quail family shared many different perspectives and experiences, and planted the seed. Early this year, I got the inexplicable feeling that “I had to go”. I didn’t know why, only that it was something that must be done. more...