Mums the Word

The 11th of this month brings a special date in our diaries: the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Many of us have visited the holy shrine numerous times and have a great devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes. We ask her to bless our families and loved ones, and in particular those who are sick and in need of prayers. Therefore, it is quite fitting that the World Day of the Sick is observed on this feast day.

The World Day of the Sick is an awareness day, or observance, in the Catholic Church intended for prayer and sharing, of offering one’s suffering for the good of the Church and of reminding everyone to see in their sick brother or sister the face of Christ.

The day was instituted on 13 May 1992 by Saint Pope John Paul II and is celebrated on 11 February.

John Paul II himself received a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 1991, the year before he decided to create the World Day of the Sick. He had previously written about suffering as a salvific and redeeming process through Christ in his 1984 apostolic letter, Salvifici Doloris.

In 2005, the World Day of the Sick had a special significance as, with the pope’s health failing, many people gathered in St Peter’s Square in Rome to pray for him.

Two years later, John Paul II’s successor as pontiff, Benedict XVI, marked the day by placing a crown on a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in St Peter’s Basilica. The recently deceased Benedict would later announce his resignation on this same day in 2013, citing his then declining health.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.

Maria Pimblett Media Officer