For more than 100 years, the Rosary Pilgrimage and the Dominican family have graced thousands of pilgrims every year with a highlight in their life of prayer and faith, rejuvenation for their spiritual life, and a renewed fervour in their devotion to Our Lady.
The Rosary Pilgrimage to Lourdes
Brother Hugues-François Rovarino, Dominican, and director of the Rosary Pilgrimage, invites us in this year 2022 to turn to the Grotto like Bernadette. Then, little by little, we too will learn to spread the message, “Go and tell…!” May we become familiar with this message and recommend to, and invite our loved ones or those who might be in need of it, to come with us to Lourdes. Like Bernadette, go and tell, with the smile of the Lady and the hope of the Lord.
BR. SYLVAIN DETOC, PREACHER 2022
Brother Sylvain Detoc is the preacher for this year’s pilgrimage to Lourdes. His love of the Rosary has led him to write numerous articles on this theme, as well as a book, published in 2020 by Éditions de la Licorne, Petite theologie du Rosaire.
Faithful to the Pilgrimage, he has served for a long time at the Baths, as liturgical animator then as chaplain.
He will preach at the 4 great masses on the theme, “Like Bernadette, go and tell,” and he will be hosting a conference “The casting errors of the Good Lord!”
THE 2022 THEME: LIKE BERNADETTE, GO AND TELL
Early on Easter morning, in a tomb hewn out of the rock, Heaven opened and spoke to the women who had come to embalm Jesus’ body. “Go and tell…” Yes, go and bring to the world the most extraordinary news of the whole human journey: Christ is risen, he has conquered evil and death! Many centuries later, in the grotto of Lourdes, Bernadette will be charged by the Virgin Mary to “go and tell” that the wonders of God are not spent. Heaven is not closed. The spring is not dry. It gushes forth from the rock, as a sign of the life that God continues to offer in abundance. It is now our turn to hear the call to, “go and tell”!
Sister Anne-Claire asks 5 short questions to Brother Sylvain Detoc, preacher 2022.
His answers are also short so that in 2′, you have decided to set off for Lourdes!
GESTURES FOR 2022
Each year, all the pilgrims of the Rosary Pilgrimage are offered a catechetical journey around one or more of the suggested gestures, accompanied by young people and hospitaliers, following in the footsteps of Bernadette and the Virgin Mary.
A GRAND VIGIL
In this year when Charles de Foucauld was elevated to the rank of “Saint”, the Rosary pilgrimage pays homage to him with a vigil, led by Francesco Agnello, on Friday 7th October at 9:00 p.m. at the Church of Saint Bernadette.
Why do we celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary on 7th October?
On 7th October we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the prayer that is attributed to an apparition of the Virgin to Saint Dominic in 1208.
In 1572, Pope Pius V instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory in thanksgiving for the naval victory at Lepanto, where the Christian fleet stopped the Ottoman invasion of Ali Pasha and put an end to Muslim conquests. This victory was attributed to the prayer of the Rosary, which was a recent devotion among the Catholic population.
In 1573, this feast was renamed the feast of the Holy Rosary. It was integrated into the Catholic liturgical calendar in 1913 then, in 1969, Pope Paul VI made it the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Today, the Church invites us to discover Mary’s place in the mystery of Salvation by continually repeating, “Hail Mary, full of grace…”.
In Lourdes, we learn every day that, during the Annunciation, Mary accepted to be the mother of God, thus participating in the mystery of the Redemption. The Ave Maria, which we pray every day in Lourdes, consists of a greeting recalling the visitation of the Angel at the Annunciation and an invocation to entrust our lives to the Mother of God both now and at the moment when we are joined with God.
