By: Julianna M. Klose
barry-news@mail.barry.edu
Each year more than five million pilgrims and tourists travel to Lourdes, France, some looking for a miracle, others to express and witness faith. The small town is known to Catholics as the site where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. Mary asked Bernadette to dig a hole and from this hole a spring arose; water from this spring is said to have miraculous healing properties. While all may not experience a physical miracle, many still experience transformation.
Such was the case when Barry University’s Michael J. Griffin Ed.D., made a pilgrimage to the site this summer through the Order of Malta.
“There are so many unseen miracles that occur, and we definitely experienced that in our group,” said Griffin, the university’s Vice President for Student Affairs.
The Order of Malta, a Catholic religious order for lay people, sponsors an annual pilgrimage to the site every May, with more than 6,000 attending each year from throughout the globe. At the heart of the trip is one of the oldest missions of service in the world; the order’s duty to care for the sick and the poor.
The sick and infirmed, known during the pilgrimage as “malades,” make the journey to Lourdes accompanied by caretakers and a full medical team. Their maladies are a range of physical and psychological needs, from brain injuries to cancer. In the United States, the malades are nominated and selected by the Order to make the trip, and are accompanied by a member of the Order of Malta – known as Dames or Knights. New members are invited to make the pilgrimage within their first three years of membership.
The journey is both a physical and spiritual one for everyone involved. Each Knight or Dame is assigned to a malade. They assist them from sunup to sundown with any need they may have, including transportation, feeding, or even buying new clothes when the malade’s luggage is lost in transit. Meanwhile, all take part in the event’s religious dimension – celebrating the sacraments of the Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick and Penance or Reconciliation. Many also bathe in the grotto’s famous spring baths, and hold a candlelight vigil to Our Lady of Lourdes.
For a town with a population of 15,000 the scale of this particular pilgrimage is immense. The order’s U.S. base charters a Boeing 747 to take the several hundred Knights, Dames, malades, caretakers and medical professionals to Lourdes each year.
The Lourdes pilgrimage is the principal yearly event for the 900-year-old order, which is the largest charitable organization in the world. However, members remain committed through the rest of the year to various services to the sick and poor – hurricane relief in New Orleans, prison ministry, Safe Haven programs for unwanted newborns, medical flights, and service to disadvantaged communities such as Immokalee, Fla. Still, members claim there’s something special about Lourdes.
“It’s so spiritually moving for the malades,” Griffin said. “They’ll find a cure in being at Lourdes and it may not be physical, it may be spiritual. It’s such a spiritual journey for the malades regardless of whether they leave with their malady or not. Even the caregivers experience miracles. It’s the hardest job you’ll ever love.”
For more information, please contact Michael Griffin, Ed.D. at (305) 899-3085.