Chapter 10
The pilgrim place
“We are from Parthia, Media, and Elam; from Mesopotamia, Judea and
Cappodocia; from Pontus and Asia and from Phrygia and Pamphylia, from
Egypt and regions of Libya near Cyrene; some of us are from Rome, both
Jews and Gentiles converted to Judaism; and some of us are from Crete and
Arabia – yet all of us hear them speaking in our own languages of the great
things that God has done.”
Acts 2:5-13
Like Jerusalem at the birth of Christianity, Lourdes is an
international crossroads where people of many nations, races and languages
converge. As with the devout Jews at Passover, the Lourdes pilgrims travel
from near and far, arriving at the rate of five million people per year (six
million in 2001). While not favoured with the mass linguistic miracle of
Pentecost days, the pilgrims do recognise a common language in their faith,
and if they cannot comprehend each other’s speech, they can understand the
language of smiles, nods and gestures, confirming that they are all living in
the house of the same Father. Such encounters add much joy and
consolation to the pilgrimage.
To be officially recognised by the Church as a pilgrim, one must
stay a minimum of five days in Lourdes. On average, the pilgrims stay two
or three days. Professionalism and long practice ensure that they are
serviced with a minimum of inconvenience. High priority is given to the
transport, care, accommodation and devotional needs of the sick. In a five
hundred-bed hostel complex, named the City Saint-Pierre, Lourdes also
caters for people living (as the hostel says) “in isolation, sickness, handicap,
poverty, exclusion, homelessness...who come on pilgrimage and knock on
the only open door.” Over forty-two years, the City Saint-Pierre has
welcomed more than 640,000 pilgrims.
To appreciate the Lourdes logistic achievement consider passing
five million people through a comparable minor Australian city, say
Benalla, in Victoria, with the traffic concentrated in the spring, summer and
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