Udupi/M’Belle: Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes celebrated with mass at Grotto

By Eugene DSouza, Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network

Udupi, 11 Feb 2015: The feast of Our Lady of Lourdes was celebrated by the parishioners of St. Lawrence Church, Moodubelle on Thursday, 11 February 2015 with the mass at the Grotto at 6 pm. Prior to the mass Rosary was recited at the Grotto.

 

The feast mass was offered by Rev. Fr. Vijesh (OFM Cap) from Permapalli along with Rev. Fr. Joswey Fernandes, Rev. Fr. Paul Sequeira and Rev. Fr. P. Raj.

 

 

In his homily, Rev. Fr. Vijesh highlighted the role of Mother Mary in the life of Jesus and the life of ordinary people. Mother Mary in her apparition to a young girl Bernadette in the small village of Lourdes in France on 11 February 1958 had given her message to the world.

 

Soon after the mass, the parishioners took out a procession through the Cross hill by carrying the lighted candles.

 

About Our Lady of Lourdes:

 

 

Our Lady of Lourdes is a venerated title of the Blessed Virgin Mary invoked by Roman Catholics in honour of the Marian apparitions said to have occurred on numerous occasions in 1858 in the vicinity of Lourdes France. The first of these is the apparition of 11 February 1858, when BernadetteSoubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, admitted to her mother that a "lady" spoke to her in the cave of Massabielle (a mile from the town) while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. Similar apparitions of the alleged "Lady" were reported on seventeen occasions that year, until the climax revelation of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception took place.

 

 

Bernadette Soubirous was later canonized as a Saint, and Roman Catholics and some Protestants believe her apparitions have been validated by the overwhelming popularity and testament of healing claimed to have taken place at the Lourdes Water spring.

 

In 1862, Pope Pius IX authorized Bishop Bertrand-Sévère Laurence to permit the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes. On 3 July 1876, Pope Pius IX formally granted a Canonical Coronation to the image that used to be in the courtyard of what is now part of the Rosary Basilica.

 

This Marian  title, Our Lady of Lourdes, has been widely copied and reproduced, often displayed in shrines and homes, most notably in garden  landscapes.