"Lourdes is a place of prayer and faith, of conversion and healing, a place for the sick and the poor, a place of youth and service. It is all these things because it is above all a place of the Eucharist."
For 75 years our diocese has gone in procession to the Grotto of Our Lady. Each summer we go again as one family, with our sick and our young, our priests and our helpers, to pray for the Church and for one another. You are warmly invited to come with us in 2026.
Key information
Air pilgrimage runs Friday 31 July to Thursday 6 August 2026. Coach pilgrims travel Thursday 30 July to Friday 7 August. The youth section runs Wednesday 29 July to Friday 7 August.
Pilgrims of every age and condition are welcome. The pilgrimage is built around our sick and disabled pilgrims, with families, parish groups, helpers, doctors, nurses and our young people travelling alongside.
The 2026 brochure and booking form are combined into one document. Download it, complete it, and return it by post or online. The youth section has its own application route.
Seventy-five years on the road to the Grotto
The Shrewsbury Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes has gone every year since 1951. Bishop Murphy formed the first committee in January of that year and led 360 pilgrims from Birkenhead Woodside that September. Seventy-five pilgrimages later, we still travel as one diocesan family.
The shape of the week is the same in essence. We gather at the Grotto each morning. We walk together behind the diocesan banner in the Eucharistic Procession at five o’clock. We pray the Rosary in the Torchlight Procession at nine. We care for our sick pilgrims in the Accueil Notre Dame. We come home changed.
What to expect
The Grotto is the heart of Lourdes. Pilgrims light candles before it, kneel in silence, and gather there for Mass. The original spring still flows behind it. You can drink the water at the taps and bathe in the gestures of water that have replaced the old baths.
Each afternoon at five o’clock the Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession from the Prairie to the Underground Basilica. Our diocesan group walks behind the banner with the Bishop. If the weather turns, the procession begins and ends inside.
At nine o’clock each evening the Rosary is prayed in many languages and pilgrims walk behind their banners with candles. Try to be in place by quarter to nine. It is one of the great sights of Catholic Europe and one of the great prayers of the week.
Getting to Lourdes
A longer journey by coach with a Channel crossing. Slower but cheaper, and a chance to travel together as a parish group from start to finish.
A direct flight to Lourdes from a UK airport, returning seven days later. The shortest option, suitable for most pilgrims including many of our sick and disabled pilgrims.
Who looks after you
Our volunteers, known as Brancardiers, look after every practical part of the week. They serve meals, push wheelchairs, marshal processions and walk beside our sick pilgrims.
Around thirty doctors, nurses and carers travel each year to look after pilgrims with ongoing medical needs in the Accueil Notre Dame.
Young people travel as part of the pilgrimage and serve alongside the Hospitality. They live and pray together and form a generation of helpers for years to come.
Spiritual care on the pilgrimage
The pilgrimage travels with the Bishop and a team of priests from across the diocese. Mass is offered each day. Confession is heard at the Chapel of Reconciliation in many languages. Anointing of the Sick is celebrated for those who ask for it. Whatever you bring with you to Lourdes, you will find a priest ready to listen.
Come with us in 2026
Places are open. The brochure is ready. Bring a relative, a friend from the parish, or come alone and find a family waiting.
