Pilgrimage: Part 2

Saturday, March 27th
After the baths, we went to the water spigots to fill up our bottles with water. It was so wonderful to be able to drink this water all day, every day during our time in Lourdes! We each had a big water bottle that we kept filled. We also splashed a little water on our face each time we walked past.
During one of her apparitions the Blessed Mother told St. Bernadette to drink from the spring water. This sign was posted along the wall in many different languages.

Next we visited the Rosary Basilica. (The huge church built above the Grotto actually had three separate churches - the Rosary Basilica, the Lower Basilica and the Upper Basilica.) The Rosary Basilica had beautiful mosaics of all the mysteries.
These beautiful mosaics were around the sides of the Church.

The beautiful altar, mosaics and dome.

The Annunciation

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

Next we visited the Lower Basilica. It was pretty small, but lovely.

One of the side altars had a relic of St. Bernadette.

We attempted to visit the Upper Basilica, but Mass was going on in French. Next we headed to the candle store. In addition to drinking the water and bathing in the water, Lourdes is known for it's many candles. During one of the apparitions Bernadette and others carried candles to the Grotto.

As you can see in this picture, there is only one candelabra that actually sits in the Grotto.
To the right of the Grotto they have a long row of cages filled with candles of all sizes.


Early on my hubby and I had decided we would purchase a large candle. We both enjoy lighting candles in church on a regular basis. It's a beautiful symbol of the light of Christ and of our prayers burning before the altar of God. At Lourdes it says, "This flame continues my prayer" and we definitely wanted our prayers to continue burning after we left!

This is my hubby in the candle store - can you believe how HUGE some of them are?


We didn't get the biggest candle possible, but I'd say it was pretty large.

We loaded all of our intentions onto this candle! They had slips of paper so you could write down your intentions. We also purchased four smaller candles for our family members and our God children. We lugged our huge candle over to the cage area and found this candle-man to help us. (Yes, his full-time job is to manage the candles!)

As he was getting our big candle to light he said, "Oh, you purchased the size that fits at the top of the Grotto candelabra. Would you like your candle to be used in the Grotto tomorrow?" Of course we said that we'd LOVE it! He said to come back the next day at 11:00am and he would be replacing all the candles and would light ours at the top.

Wow. We were so thrilled! Maybe it's not that big of a deal, but we felt so honored that our candle would be the one large one burning at the top all day. As you can see in this picture it burns right next to the statue of Our Lady - in the exact spot where she appeared to St. Bernadette. I'm so glad we happened to buy that size!

This is me in front of our candle burning at the top in the Grotto.

Ok, so I haven't even made it to lunch yet on the first day. I can't help it! I just want to share all of it with you! :)