LOURDES Marian Candlelight Procession - Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Sanctuary

Recorded on 08. September 2023 during the Marian Candlelight Procession.
The Sanctuary organizes 200 processions every year from April to the end of October, and in winter during the Marian Feasts on 8th December and 11th February. Every day at 9.00pm (between Easter and October).
Don’t miss the evening Torchlight Procession. As early as 18th February 1858, the day of the third Apparition, one of the two people accompanying Bernadette had carried a candle. After this, Bernadette herself always came with a candle. The iconic Lourdes Torchlight Procession, known throughout the world, was introduced in Lourdes in 1863 by Father Marie-Antoine, a Capuchin also known as the ‘Saint of Toulouse’. The Marian Procession is the most popular celebration in Lourdes. Pilgrims come with their banners and sick pilgrims are always anxious to attend when they can. You can carry a candle with its paper wind protector on which the traditional Ave Maria of Lourdes is printed recalling the story of the Apparitions.
During the Procession, and depending on the day, the pilgrims recite the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful or Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. At the beginning of each decade, a few words in several languages give direction to the prayer so that it does not become a monotonous repetition. The Ave Maria and other hymns can be heard in many languages. In the serenity of the evening, each pilgrim carries his or her own personal intentions as the prayer gathers the assembly “of all nations, people and languages” with the Virgin Mary, like the disciples in the Cenacle after the Ascension of Christ. The procession always takes place regardless of the weather: the Lourdes pilgrim is prudent and knows when to carry an umbrella.
From the very beginning of the Sanctuary the feutiers have watched over the burning candles. In the silence of prayer, day and night, the thousands of candles deposited by the pilgrims burn gently. These devoted men take turns from morning till night. Each year, an average of over 400 tons of wax is consumed. Candles can range from 130g for the most common, to colossal 70 kg. Some members of the team, called ‘the feutiers of the Apparition’, have the special task of watching over the candelabra of the Grotto made up of 90 candles with a larger candle at the summit.
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In 1854, the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous (Maria Bernada Sobirós in her native Occitan language) on a total of eighteen occasions at Lourdes (Lorda in her local Occitan language). Lourdes has become a major place of Roman Catholic pilgrimage and of miraculous healings. The 150th Jubilee of the first apparition took place on 11 February 2008.
In 2020, Lourdes had a population of around 15,000. In 2012, 715,000 pilgrims attended Our Lady of Lourdes related events, falling to 570,000 in 2016. In 2011, Lourdes contained about 270 hotels, the second-greatest number of hotels per square kilometer in France after Paris.
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