Archbishop leads pilgrimage to Lourdes

A group of 120 people led by Archbishop Joseph Mercieca left yesterday for a pilgrimage to Lourdes organised by the Maltese Society for the Transportation of the Sick and Disabled to Lourdes.

The group will return on August 9.

Half of the group is made up of volunteers who pay for the trip from their own pockets to accompany the sick and the disabled. The rest pay according to their means.

Among the sick and the disabled are a person aged eight and another aged 89, the society's medical director Misael Cassar said.

Dr Cassar said that the pilgrimage had been held every year since 1931. The first pilgrimage came about as a promise made by Dun Guzepp Azzopardi, Guzeppi Debrincat and Guzeppi Galea who, on visiting Lourdes, had asked themselves why there were no sick or disabled people from Malta.

Dr Cassar, who has been going to Lourdes practically every year since 1958 but who did not accompany this year's group, said that the fascination of Lourdes lies in the work that one does on behalf of the sick and disabled and the satisfaction one gets on seeing their happy faces when they visit the famous grotto.