Le pèlerinage de Lourdes
| Le pèlerinage de Lourdes French language: The pilgrimage to Lourdes Encyclical letter of Pope Pius XII |
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| Date | 2 July 1957 |
| Argument | Warning against materialism on the centenary of the apparitions at Lourdes |
| Encyclical number | 38 of 41 of the pontificate |
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Le pèlerinage de Lourdes is the only encyclical of Pope Pius XII issued in French. It includes warnings against materialism on the centenary of the apparitions at Lourdes. It was given at Rome, from St. Peter's Basilica, on the feast of the Visitation of the Most Holy Virgin, July 2, 1957, the nineteenth year of his pontificate. The encyclical represents so far the strongest pronouncement of the papal magisterium on Marian apparitions in the history of the Catholic Church.
The encyclical recalls pleasant memories of the pilgrimage to Lourdes which Pope Pius XII undertook as papal delegate at the Eucharistic and Marian Celebrations in 1937. The Pope reminds the faithful of France, that every Christian land is a Marian land and that "there is not one nation redeemed in the blood of Christ which does not glory in proclaiming Mary its Mother and Patroness". He then recalls the history of Marian veneration, the history of Lourdes and the contributions of the Popes to her veneration in Lourdes.
The first part of the encyclical reviews the contributions of the papacy to the veneration in Lourdes.
The encyclical mentions that in 1869 Pius IX rejoiced that obstacles created against Lourdes "by the malice of men rendered stronger and more evident the clarity of the fact". He crowned the statue of our Lady of Lourdes. In 1892 Leo XIII granted the proper Office and Mass of the feast "In apparitione Beatae Mariae Virginis Immaculatae", which his successor was to extend to the universal Church a short time later. He installed and blessed a reproduction of the Grotto of Massabielle in the Vatican gardens, and prayed:
The encyclical states, that fifty years after the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Saint Pius X wrote, in Ad diem illum, that his predecessor Pius IX, "had hardly defined it to be of Catholic faith that Mary was from her very origin exempt from sin, when the Virgin herself began performing miracles at Lourdes." Pius X created the episcopal see of Lourdes, and authorized the introduction of the cause of beatification of Bernadette. He emphasized the wonderful harmony at Lourdes between Eucharistic worship and Marian prayer. Pope Pius XII concludes: "It could not have been otherwise. Everything about Mary directs us to her Son, our only Savior, in anticipation of whose merits she was immaculate and full of grace. Everything about Mary raises us to the praise of the adorable Trinity." The encyclical adds that Saint Pius X viewed the shrine of Lourdes as surpassing in glory all others in the Catholic world.
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