The rose has been associated with Our Lady of Lourdes since the first Apparition when Mary appeared adorned with a yellow rose on each foot. Father Peyramale, perplexed at the Lady’s request for a Chapel, had the idea of asking for a sign and made his expectations clear to Bernadette Soubirous: “Well! if she wants the chapel, ask her to say her name and make the rose bush in the grotto bloom!” He added, “If she says her name, and if she makes the rosebush bloom, we will build her chapel, and it won’t be a small one either! It will be very big!” (Laurentin Bernadette Speaks)
Thousands of roses will be placed in the Grotto
On 8th December, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, on the Spanish Steps in Rome, the Pope will lay a bouquet of flowers at the foot of a marble column, more than 11 metres high and supporting a statue of Mary, to pay homage to her Immaculate Conception. On that same day, in Lourdes, at the very place where the Virgin said, “I am the Immaculate Conception”, the Sanctuary will be joining in with the Holy Father’s actions: thousands of roses, ordered online by pilgrims via our website, will be placed in the Grotto, at the feet of Our Lady, to pay her homage and thus prolong the joy that Bernadette experienced when she said, “She had a yellow rose on each foot, the colour of her rosary chain,”
Every 8th December, the Sanctuary of Lourdes celebrates the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
This year, Mgr. Antoine Hérouard, apostolic delegate for the Sanctuary, will be presiding at the Mass followed by the floral tribute at the Grotto. The programme of celebrations.
The rosary makes the world bloom: a chain of prayer on every continent
Believers from around the world are invited to join in this event by offering a rose to Mary (via our online form). At the same time, on this same day, on every continent, an immense prayer chain will be organised, an initiative of the Family of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Padre Pio prayer groups. They will be actively participating in this prayer chain meditating on the Rosary of the Immaculate. Why don’t you join them? Saint Padre Pio said, “Let us love the Virgin and make her loved. Always pray the Rosary!”
Contact : hommagefloral-lourdes@sfr.fr
1 av. Monseigneur Théas
