History of Lourdes

In 1858 a young girl named Bernadette Soubirous experienced a series of apparitions in which the virgin Mary appered to her in the grotto at Massabielle on the outskirts of town. Mary appeard to Bernadette 18 times between 11th Febuary and 16th July during which time Mary left a series of messages with her. These messages were, a call to pray for sinners, to have a chaple buillt on the site of the apparitions, and to "come here in procession". On one of the last apparitions Mary revealed to Bernadette was a miraculous spring, and told here to drink and wash from it. To this day that spring has flowed uninterruptedly and can be seen under its glass cover at the back of the grotto.

History Of HCPT

In 1956 a young doctor named Michael Stroude took four children with disabilities on a pilgrimage holiday to Lourdes. However rather than letting them stay in the hospitals and hospices, he decided he wanted them to stay in the hotels as Honoured Guests so that they might get as much out of there holiday as other children. In doing so he change the way children experience a trip to this famous shrine. Fifty years on HCPT now takes close to 2000 disabled and disadvantaged children aged 7-18 from the UK, Ireland and other Countries, and the Pilgrimage is now the largest in the UK. During our week in Lourdes the children are cared for by volunteer helpers, including Doctors, Nurses, and Chaplins all of whom pay there own way, while the fares of the children are payed for through group foundraising.