French Catholics begin novena as Lourdes closes for first time in history

March 17, 2020 CNA Daily News News Briefs 2 Print

Lourdes, France, Mar 17, 2020 / 05:30 am (CNA).- The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes has closed for the first time in over a century following new restrictions in France to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“For the first time in its history, the sanctuary will close its doors for a while. Pray with us the novena to the Immaculate,” Mgr. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, rector of the Lourdes sanctuary announced March 17.

No public Masses will be offered in the sanctuary due to national measures announced by French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron on the evening of March 16.

France is the third European country to enact a mandatory national quarantine in response to the growing number of cases of COVID-19. Italy and Spain have both imposed nationwide lockdowns, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis have also announced bans on all religious services in their countries.

The French government restrictions include limiting citizens’ movement outside of their homes for the next 15 days to grocery shopping and essential movement, as well as the closure of all schools, restaurants, cafes, and most businesses.

Following the closure of Lourdes, French Auxiliary Bishop Antoine Hérouard of Lille called on Catholics to participate in a novena to Our Lady of Lourdes from March 17-25 to pray for the sick who have been infected with the coronavirus.

“The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is a privileged place of prayer for and with the sick,” Bishop Hérouard said in his introduction to the novena published on March 17.

The French bishop is asking everyone to commit to praying the rosary for nine consecutive days, concluding on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation.

March 25 is also the anniversary of the Virgin Mary’s 16th apparition at Lourdes in which Our Lady declared to St. Bernadette Soubirous “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in southern France is built upon the site where the young  Bernadette Soubirous witnessed Marian apparitions, beginning on Feb. 11, 1858. The shrine also holds a spring of water which is said to have miraculous healing properties.

While there have been more than 7,000 miraculous recoveries attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes at the French shrine, only 70 cases have been officially recognized by the Catholic Church. A miraculous recovery must generally be a complete, spontaneous, and immediate healing from a documented medical condition.

The last official miracle attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes was declared in 2018.

“In these troubled times, where many … because of the coronavirus, look to the future with concern, let us ask the Lord through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes, to renew us in confidence, hope and peace of heart,” states the opening prayer of the Lourdes coronavirus novena.

“Mary, because you are the smile of God, the reflection of the light of Christ, the abode of the Holy Spirit, because you chose Bernadette in her poverty, you are the morning star, the gate to heaven and the first resurrected creature, we pray to you and entrust our lives to you at a time when so many men and of women fear for their health. Assist the sick and caregivers, welcome those who are dead, and be comfort for families,” the prayer concludes.

If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Related Articles

No Picture
News Briefs

PHOTOS: Pope Francis shares Vatican lunch with poor

November 20, 2023 Catholic News Agency 2
Waiters bring lunch to Pope Francis and those seated at his table on the World Day of the Poor on Nov. 19, 2023. The lunch was offered by Hilton Hotels and organized by the Vatican’s charity office and the Sant’Egidio community. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Nov 20, 2023 / 11:11 am (CNA).

Pope Francis had lunch with approximately 1,200 poor, refugees, and homeless from around Rome on Sunday to mark the Catholic Church’s seventh observance of the World Day of the Poor. 

Pope Francis had lunch with around 1,200 of Rome's poor and economically disadvantaged for the World Day of the Poor on Nov. 19, 2023. The lunch was served in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall and preceded by the Angelus and a special Mass. Credit: Vatican Media.
Pope Francis had lunch with around 1,200 of Rome’s poor and economically disadvantaged for the World Day of the Poor on Nov. 19, 2023. The lunch was served in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall and preceded by the Angelus and a special Mass. Credit: Vatican Media.

The lunch, which was offered by Hilton Hotels, included spinach and ricotta cheese-stuffed cannelloni, meatballs with tomato sauce, and a cauliflower purée. The dessert was tiramisu and small pastries.

Waiters bring lunch to Pope Francis and those seated at his table on the World Day of the Poor on Nov. 19, 2023. The lunch was offered by Hilton Hotels and organized by the Vatican's charity office and the Sant'Egidio community. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Waiters bring lunch to Pope Francis and those seated at his table on the World Day of the Poor on Nov. 19, 2023. The lunch was offered by Hilton Hotels and organized by the Vatican’s charity office and the Sant’Egidio community. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

The lunch was organized by the Vatican’s charity office and the Catholic Sant’Egidio community. 

Before the meal, Pope Francis led the weekly Sunday Angelus from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. 

Pope Francis exchanges a look with someone seated at his table during a Vatican lunch with poor and economically disadvantaged people for the World Day of the Poor on Nov. 19, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media.
Pope Francis exchanges a look with someone seated at his table during a Vatican lunch with poor and economically disadvantaged people for the World Day of the Poor on Nov. 19, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media.

He also celebrated a Mass for the poor in St. Peter’s Basilica, in which he called poverty “a scandal.”

“When the Lord returns, he will settle accounts with us and — in the words of St. Ambrose — he will say to us: ‘Why did you allow so many of the poor to die of hunger when you possessed gold to buy food for them? Why were so many slaves sold and mistreated by the enemy, without anyone making an effort to ransom them?’ (De Officiis: PL 16, 148-149).”

Pope Francis receives the offertory gifts during a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to mark the Church's seventh World Day of the Poor on Nov. 19, 2023. Among those who brought the gifts to Pope Francis were two people with blindness. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Pope Francis receives the offertory gifts during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to mark the Church’s seventh World Day of the Poor on Nov. 19, 2023. Among those who brought the gifts to Pope Francis were two people with blindness. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

“Let us think, then,” the pope said in his homily, “of all those material, cultural, and spiritual forms of poverty that exist in our world, of the great suffering present in our cities, of the forgotten poor whose cry of pain goes unheard in the generalized indifference of a bustling and distracted society.”

Pope Francis established the World Day of the Poor in 2016 at the end of the Church’s Jubilee Year of Mercy. The day is celebrated each year on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, a week before the feast of Christ the King.

[…]

1 Comment

  1. Your site always offers the viewers/readers the truth as the Lord calls us to live it, to be faithful to all of His teachings, to live charity and forgive all as we want to be forgiven. This is a most difficult time to live in. It’s my belief that the Lord is permitting the situation we are now living in world wide to call all of humanity good and bad back to HIM and change our hearts especially during this holy season of Lent and as Easter approaches. Thank you and God bless you.

    Reply

1 Trackback / Pingback

  1. French Catholics begin novena as Lourdes closes for first time in history - Catholic Mass Search

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*