More than 200 pilgrims and visitors are scheduled to visit a relic of St Bernadette which will be displayed in Ampleforth Abbey on Monday 3 October between 1.30 p.m. – 5.00 p.m.
This “once-in-a-lifetime” event is part of a tour of cathedrals, abbeys and parishes in England, Wales and Scotland, which began on 2 September and is scheduled to end in London on 1 November
The relics will arrive from Middlesbrough Cathedral at 1:30 p.m. and be carried in procession to the Abbey Church where the Abbot will celebrate a brief liturgy of welcome. An exhibition will be set up in the monastic cloister where visitors and pilgrims can read about the story of Lourdes and St Bernadette. From there you can enter the Abbey Church, pass close by the relic, and spend some time in prayer and reflection (we kindly ask you to switch off mobile phones when in the Abbey Church and refrain from taking photographs).
The final liturgy will begin at 4:30 p.m., after which the relics will be brought in procession to Leeds Cathedral to continue their tour.
In the Newman Room, just along from the Abbey Church, a pop-up tea room will be offering tea, coffee and biscuits. Here you will also find a small pop-up shop selling various religious items.
If you would like to register your visit to the relics, please do so here. (Please note this is not a booking system but simply provides organisers with an indication of numbers).
Who was St Bernadette?
Bernadette Soubirous was born in January 1844 in Lourdes, a small town in the south of France. She was one of eight children born into a very poor family.
Between 11 February and 16 July 1858, Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary eighteen times in a series of Apparitions that took place in cave on the outskirts of Lourdes, a place now known as the Grotto of Massabielle. In the course of these miraculous encounters, Bernadette, then aged just 14, became the friend and confidante of Our Lady, the mother of Jesus.
The Apparitions of Lourdes were authenticated in 1866 by the Bishop of Tarbes. In that same year, Bernadette left Lourdes to live out her religious vocation within the community of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. She died in 1879, aged 35.
