Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Carfin (Agenzia Fides) - Bishop Jacques Perrier, Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, will make a three day
visit to Carfin, the main Marian shrine in Scotland, Friday 4 to Sunday 6 September 2009.
Bishop Perrier, who is 73 years old, will be the first Bishop from Lourdes to visit the Scottish shrine and it is hoped this visit will cement links between Lourdes and Carfin.
Commenting on the visit, Rev. Thomas Millar, Parish Priest at St. Francis Xavier, said: “We are delighted to welcome Bishop Perrier to Carfin Grotto this weekend. We had hoped he could visit in 2008, during the 150th anniversary of the Apparitions at Lourdes, but, because of the many events in Lourdes to celebrate the anniversary, he wasn't able to do so.”
Bishop Perrier will lead the Marian Torchlight Procession on Friday evening. On Saturday, he will celebrate Mass, following which he will lead the Blessed Sacrament Procession, and on Sunday there will be a Marian Rosary Procession to the Lourdes Shrine (in Carfin) where Bishop Perrier will give a reflection on the 150th anniversary of the Apparitions at Lourdes (France).
Carfin Lourdes Grotto is part of the parish of St. Francis Xavier in Carfin and was built in the 1920s by the then parish priest, Monsignor Taylor. The shrine was built by the local parishioners, who were mainly miners. It was opened in late 1922 and soon became a pilgrimage site for Catholics from Scotland and other parts of the world. In the following years, there was a chapel, Stations of the Cross, and other statues of saints added on to the grotto. The sacred place is dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, as well as to Saint Therese of Lisieux, whose statue was situated near that of the Virgin Mary in honor of her beatification in Rome, April 28, 1923. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 3/9/2009)
