Virtual pilgrimage to Lourdes grotto at St. John the Baptist Parish

Friday, Apr. 01, 2016

DRAPER — The Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitality North American Volunteers are bringing the story of Bernadette Soubirous and the essence of a visit to Lourdes, France to St. John the Baptist Parish in Draper on April 23. 

The event will also offer Lourdes water and a plenary indulgence.

The virtual pilgrimage will be conducted through a large screen digital projection, said Dan Revetto, a North American Lourdes volunteer guide. “The interactive spiritual experience offers pilgrims both a prayerful and a catechetical experience,” he said. 

Lourdes is where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette during 18 apparitions that took place in 1858 from February through July. 

The virtual pilgrimage will depict the Lourdes sanctuaries as they looked during Bernadette’s time, and as they appear today.

Pilgrims also will be able to touch rocks from the Grotto of Massabielle, where Our Lady stood when she appeared to Bernadette, and bless themselves with Lourdes water, said Revetto. 

Everyone who attends the pilgrimage will be provided with a free bottle of Lourdes water.

“The Catholic Church has recognized 69 authentic miracles that have occurred in Lourdes,” Revetto said. “We will discuss the difference between a scientifically inexplicable cure and what a miracle is, and I will provide some examples.” 

Those who participate in the virtual pilgrimage will also be given a plenary indulgence from Pope Francis, Revetto said. “This is the first time in the history of the Catholic Church that a plenary indulgence has been offered for a virtual pilgrimage, Revetto said. “It can only be administered through an NALV through 2020.”

When Our Lady appeared to Bernadette, she asked that a chapel be built and that people come in procession. In Lourdes there are two processions: The afternoon procession of the Blessed Sacrament in to the underground Pope Pius X Basilica, and the evening procession of the Holy Rosary by candlelight in rosary square. 

The pilgrims at St. John the Baptist will pray a decade of the rosary by candlelight with a picture on the screen of the tens of thousands of pilgrims in rosary square in Lourdes with their torches lit; “we will be united with those pilgrims praying the rosary,” said Revetto. 

“We will also have adoration and benediction, and pilgrims will receive a Eucharistic blessing, which is an important component of the virtual pilgrimage,” Revetto said. “Many attribute the miracles solely to the water at Lourdes, but many scientifically inexplicable cures have been attributed to where a Eucharistic blessing by a priest has taken place in the underground basilica.”    

The NALV also helps people who are suffering or dying to pay for a trip to Lourdes through a program called Andrea’s Wish. 

Esther Martinez, a St. John the Baptist parishioner, has glaucoma and is going blind; she went on a seven-day pilgrimage to Lourdes through Andrea’s Wish. 

Martinez experienced all that is offered in Lourdes, including the candlelight rosary procession and the baths, she said.

“Instead of being immersed in the water, I stepped down into the cold water and just splashed it on my eyes. It’s strange. When I got out, I was miraculously dry,” she said. “Although I was hoping for a miracle, my sight wasn’t healed.”

However, she did benefit from the pilgrimage, she said. “Before Lourdes I was fighting my situation; now I am able to accept it and feel peaceful.”

WHAT: Virtual Lourdes Pilgrimage

WHERE: St. John the Baptist Parish, 300 East 11800 South, Draper 

Free and open to the public. For information, visit www.virtualLourdespilgrimage.org.