Lourdes: ‘A special home of Mary where Pope will pray for our world’

By Deborah Castellano Lubov – France

Father James Phalan, a priest of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, coordinates the English-speaking chaplaincy at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.

“It’s a blessing,” he says, “truly to be a chaplain at Lourdes, to encounter people who come searching, looking, open to receive, looking for healing. And Our Lady always responds to them.”

In this interview with Vatican News, the American priest shares why the Lourdes that Pope Leo visits is truly a pilgrimage, and insists that since Our Lady appeared there in 1858, she hasn’t left. “And she came as she always does. She came to bring us Jesus.”

Q: Father Phalan, what is your first memory of Lourdes?

The first time I visited Lourdes was in 2008. I was working in Spain on some projects, and I had rented a car. I was in the northern part of Spain and suddenly found myself with a couple of days free, so I just hightailed it up to Lourdes. I had never been there before, and I had to figure everything out. It was kind of a challenge because I didn’t know Europe very well at that point. I was driving around, trying to find my way into Lourdes.

After getting myself settled and getting into the town in the middle of summer, with lots of people all around, I was feeling kind of stressed. Then I walked into the Sanctuary, and I felt this sense of peace that just came over me. I walked through the gate of the Sanctuary—and I wasn’t looking for this at all—but all of a sudden, this powerful peace just descended on me. And I said to myself, “Whoa. There’s something here.” You knew it. You could feel it.

Q: What does Lourdes represent for the faithful of the world, in your opinion?

Lourdes is one of several truly global Marian shrines, places of Marian pilgrimage. You can think of a number of them, but particularly the biggest ones that come to my mind would be Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, Fatima in Portugal, Lourdes, Medjugorje, and many other local shrines.

These places are homes of Mary, where she calls the people. She invites people to come, to come to be with the Mother. And you can feel it.

Q: One thinks of Lourdes and stories of healings, miracles and signs. Have you seen something in particular?

I’ve spoken to several people who have had dramatic healings over the years, and it’s beautiful to see how they changed their lives and how it brought them to a deeper faith. There’s one case that stays with me and remains a very important case for me to ponder.

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Q: What case is that?

A good friend of mine told me about a man. She was working in a hotel, and there was a fellow whom she met there whom she had seen several years in a row. But he never spoke to her about what had happened until, finally, he opened up and told her about this dramatic experience several years before.

He had been in a serious car accident. He had lost his wife and his child, and he himself was left semi-paralyzed. He eventually came to Lourdes, and he was dramatically healed, brought back to full health. But he never said anything to anyone. He said he didn’t wish to say anything to anyone because what was most important for him was that he got his faith back.

He had a dramatic physical healing, but he also found his faith. He found peace after having lost his wife and his child. That was just a beautiful and powerful story — one of the most powerful stories I’ve heard.

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Q: There have been many accounts of healings at Lourdes.

There have now been 72 officially recognized cases of healing. But that means the cases that have gone through the whole process, which is very, very rigorous.

First, there is an examination by a number of medical doctors. It’s a very rigorous process, and sometimes people have to travel to Lourdes from other countries, so it takes a while. Then, after the Medical Bureau makes its decision, the case goes to the diocesan bishop, and the whole thing is examined again. So the cases that get to that point have really been tried and tested.

But there have been thousands of cases that people cannot take through that entire process and that one can nevertheless be fairly confident are authentic medical healings. And in addition to that, there have been, as we say, thousands of dramatic physical healings.

There have been millions, millions, of spiritual healings: people being touched profoundly in their lives through their experience of Lourdes.

Q: For people who have never been there, it can be hard to imagine Lourdes. Could you “bring” those who aren’t here to Lourdes, explaining what it is like?

People may not realize that Lourdes is actually in a very physically beautiful place. Our Lady chose very well. Lourdes is in a small town at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains in southern France. The Pyrenees basically form the border between France and Spain.

As you look down the valley, you can look up toward the Pyrenees Mountains. And the town is along a very gentle river — mostly gentle. Sometimes, in big rainstorms, it overflows its banks. But it is a very beautiful place, that beautiful valley.

And Our Lady appeared in a grotto. What’s a grotto? The French word grotte means cave. At the time of the apparitions, it wasn’t particularly elegant. It was actually something of a town dumping ground, outside the town, where Bernadette and two other girls were looking for firewood.

But then Our Lady asked that a church be built so that people could come on pilgrimage. Today, when people come to Lourdes, they will see the grotto. At the time of the apparitions, it was nothing fancy.

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Q: There really was a transformation, wasn’t there?

Right. After the Bishop approved the apparitions several years later, they began work on the rock high above the grotto, marking the beginning of the construction of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, a beautiful church whose towers rise above the grotto.

Soon they began building the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, down on the same level as the grotto. And there are several other churches that have been built since then, including one built in the 1950s: a huge underground basilica that can hold 20,000 people.

Q: In Lourdes, what are some of the special moments a pilgrim visiting could experience on a given day?

There are several key moments in the day at Lourdes. There are two processions held each day. One is the procession of the Blessed Sacrament, during the time of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It is held in the underground basilica, where the sick are blessed with the Blessed Sacrament. A number of healings have been associated with that event.

Each night at 9 p.m. during the season of Lourdes, which runs from Easter until the end of October, there is a beautiful candlelight procession around the Sanctuary, with the recitation of the Rosary.

Hail Marys are prayed in many languages over the course of an hour, and it is a beautiful, peaceful procession that is very, very moving for people who come to Lourdes. I will never forget the first time I participated in that procession. It was so touching and it still is.

In the English-speaking chaplaincy, every day we celebrate Mass in English a couple of times a day, and we hear confessions throughout the day. We’re available for counselling and for a general presence among the pilgrims who are coming.

Q: What does Pope Leo’s presence in Lourdes mean to you? By chance, have your paths as fellow Americans crossed before?

Well, I don’t know whether our paths have crossed. I can’t remember, but Pope Leo and I were both young priests in Peru at the same time.

The fact that Pope Leo is visiting Lourdes is really a beautiful event. I know it is a wonderful personal pilgrimage for Pope Leo, but I’m sure he is well aware that when the Pope goes, he is the Successor of Saint Peter.

He is Peter going to visit Mary. It’s really significant that he is visiting Lourdes now and is going on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, a pilgrimage that is going to unfold beautifully with prayer, the Rosary and the Mass.

He is Peter going to visit the Holy Mother of Jesus and the Church, to pray for our world now, especially for peace, healing and unity, and for those gifts that we need now in a world which is very unsettled. It’s very important now that he prays here for this now.

Mary has chosen a number of places around the world, which I call these special homes of Mary. They are places where Mary has come and where she remains. I say to people here in Lourdes: Our Lady appeared here in 1858, and she hasn’t left. And she came as she always does. She came to bring us Jesus.

Q: Anything else you would like to add?

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Our Lady teaches us and calls us to say yes to Jesus and to let Him lead us deeper into His life. At the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady wants to lead us into the light of Jesus. That’s what Our Lady did with Saint Bernadette.

Each day of our lives, as we pray the Holy Rosary, she guides us to walk with Jesus. Sometimes that means walking along the way to the Cross, but always walking to new life and walking to the Resurrection.

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