Waterford & Lismore Lourdes Pilgrimage

Waterford & Lismore Lourdes Pilgrimage The Waterford & Lismore Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes takes place annually in June. In 2019 we will travel from Wednesday 5th - Monday 10th June

Our annual pilgrimage to Lourdes is run in conjunction with Joe Walsh Tours. Booking Office is open from 6th January 2014 at St. John's Pastoral Centre, John's Hill, Waterford. Opening hours 9.30am - 3.30pm. Bookings can be taken in office or over the phone. Please contact 051 878900 if you have any queries regarding travel.

Day 3 and the sun came out to greet us for our Grotto Mass. " I was charged to tell you, not to make you believe"....St...
06/06/2026

Day 3 and the sun came out to greet us for our Grotto Mass. " I was charged to tell you, not to make you believe"....St. Bernadette.

How proud we were to lead the Eucharistic Procession in the Underground today. All who participated served our Diocese...
05/06/2026

How proud we were to lead the Eucharistic Procession in the Underground today. All who participated served our Diocese very well.

Day 2 and after the rain last night we woke to sunshine and a beautiful mass celebrated in St Joseph's Chapel. We reme...
05/06/2026

Day 2 and after the rain last night we woke to sunshine and a beautiful mass celebrated in St Joseph's Chapel. We remembered you all and some of the words from the homely today..Lourdes is kissed by Heaven through the intercession of Mary....

Group photo also took place.

Day 1 off to a great start with our Opening Mass celebrated by Bishop Phonsie. The Blessing of Hands took place for all...
04/06/2026

Day 1 off to a great start with our Opening Mass celebrated by Bishop Phonsie. The Blessing of Hands took place for all staff.

Today 360 pilgrims from our Diocese arrived safely in Lourdes for Pilgrimage 2026. We will remember you all at our cerem...
03/06/2026

Today 360 pilgrims from our Diocese arrived safely in Lourdes for Pilgrimage 2026. We will remember you all at our ceremonies each day.

Tell us we are an Irish Pilgrimage without actually saying it.... Great work being done this morning and many hands mak...
01/06/2026

Tell us we are an Irish Pilgrimage without actually saying it.... Great work being done this morning and many hands making light work of our pre Pilgrimage packing..

It's the final countdown with only one week to go. For all those travelling now might be a good time to check passports...
27/05/2026

It's the final countdown with only one week to go. For all those travelling now might be a good time to check passports and EHIC (E111) cards.

Are we there yet! One week to go to Pilgrimage 2026 and final choir practice tonight.
26/05/2026

Are we there yet!

One week to go to Pilgrimage 2026 and final choir practice tonight.

03/05/2026

Date for your diary. Dance the night away while also supporting our very worthy cause.

11/02/2026

She was poor.
She was sickly.
She could barely read.

And the Church now calls her St. Bernadette Soubirous.

Bernadette was born in 1844 in Lourdes, France. Her family lived in such poverty that they were forced to move into a damp, abandoned jail cell. Hunger was familiar. Asthma clung to her lungs. School lessons never quite stuck.

She was not impressive.
Not educated.
Not powerful.

At fourteen, she went out to gather firewood near a rocky grotto called Massabielle. It was cold. Ordinary. Forgettable.

Then the wind rose.

Bernadette looked toward the grotto — and saw a Lady dressed in white, with a blue sash and a golden rose on each foot.

She was afraid.
But not for long.

The Lady did not speak at first. She simply looked at Bernadette. And smiled.

Over the next months, the Lady appeared eighteen times. Bernadette returned again and again — through mud, ridicule, interrogation, and threats. Town officials mocked her. Clergy tested her. Crowds pressed in.

“Are you sure?” they demanded.
“Yes,” she answered. Simply. Steadily.

The Lady asked for prayer.
For penance.
For a chapel to be built.

One day, she told Bernadette to dig in the dirt and drink from a hidden spring. People laughed as the girl scraped at the mud and smeared her face.

But water began to flow.

That spring still runs today at Lourdes. And millions have come seeking healing — of body, of soul.

When asked her name, the Lady finally answered:
“I am the Immaculate Conception.”

Bernadette did not even understand the phrase. She repeated it exactly as she heard it — a theological truth proclaimed just four years earlier. An uneducated girl carried a mystery she could not have invented.

Fame followed. So did pressure. But Bernadette did not cling to it.

She left Lourdes.
She entered religious life.
She chose hiddenness.

At the convent in Nevers, she was not treated as a celebrity. She scrubbed floors. She served in the infirmary. She endured misunderstanding and illness. Tuberculosis slowly consumed her body.

She once said, “The Blessed Virgin used me as a broom. When the work is done, the broom is put back behind the door.”

She did not seek visions again.
She sought obscurity.

When she died at 35, she whispered, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me.”

Years later, her body was found incorrupt — a silent testimony to a life that had belonged entirely to heaven.

St. Bernadette Soubirous teaches us: God does not look for brilliance. He looks for availability.

If you feel unnoticed…
If your weakness embarrasses you…
If you think God prefers the talented and strong…

This peasant girl from Lourdes proves otherwise.

Heaven chooses the small.
Grace speaks through the simple.
And the humble change the world.

St. Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.

Address

Lourdes Office, St John's Pastoral Centre, John's Hill
Waterford

Telephone

+35351878900

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Waterford & Lismore Lourdes Pilgrimage posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category