A Powerful Pilgrimage

Last August, five upperclassmen along with faculty member John Ryan took a nine-day pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.

The group of Arrows traveled with other first-year pilgrims in high school through the nonprofit organization, Our Lady’s Pilgrimage (OLP). Lourdes has a rich history of miraculous healings and is best known as the holy place where the Virgin Mother appeared to a young Saint Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. Years in the making, this trip had been in Headmaster Burke’s heart ever since he learned about OLP but was unfortunately postponed due to the pandemic. After such a successful journey, the pilgrimage to Lourdes will hopefully become a tradition for years to come.

The dual purpose of the pilgrimage was faith and service, which the boys started on right away. After arriving in Lourdes, the Arrows attended mass at the Poor Clares, visited the Massabielle Grotto, and assisted at the train station, which according to Ryan, “was some of their best work.” At the station, they helped wheelchair-bound pilgrims exit the trains, board the buses, and transfer their luggage. This was no small feat, as in some cases, the Arrows had to lift and carry the sick from one place to another.

At daily mass, the boys set up wheelchairs, helped the sick and disabled get comfortable, and held up umbrellas when it rained. The boys also manned the ropes during various visits to the Grotto to ensure safety and orderliness. Ryan reminisced on their service saying, “Many of the boys made connections with some of the sick people or some of the kids, and it was really nice to see.” Ben Garrity ’23 affirmed this sentiment: “The environment of Lourdes allowed me and my classmates to push our intentions beyond ourselves and onto the lives of the sick who awaited our love. I found myself able to become who I am supposed to be: a man for others.”

One special moment came when the Arrows had the honor of carrying the statue of the Virgin Mother during the nightly procession. For about a half mile, the boys carried the statue and walked by candlelight with around 4,000 others. Recounting the procession, Ryan shared, “There were some moments where you could tell the boys were touched, really thought about their faith, and felt the presence of Jesus.”

During their free time, the boys visited the various chapels around Lourdes and immersed themselves in the beauty and holiness of the area. As they walked around Lourdes, they kept their hands busy crafting cord chaplets, or prayer beads, which OLP taught them how to make. They spent the first few days making as many as they could, and then they handed them out to fellow pilgrims along their travels.

While the boys grew in their faith in France, back in Needham, a special place of prayer called the Oratory was being built on the St. Sebastian’s campus. Wanting to share a piece of their journey with the rest of the School, the boys brought a piece of rock home from the river at the Grotto to be placed in the stone wall of the Oratory. Ryan, a Notre

Dame alumnus, noted that the inspiration for this idea came from the university’s famous Grotto, which holds a rock from Lourdes that people touch after lighting a candle as a nod to the holy place from which it came.

The theme of “living for others” prevailed throughout the entire trip and continued to inspire the boys after they returned home from their first-ever pilgrimage. “To be in the city of Lourdes with the presence of such holiness really opened my eyes to embrace God and his mission in me. I have a duty to use what I learned and accept God into my life back home,” shared Tyler Derenzo ’24. Not only did the boys forge connections with the people in Lourdes, but the experience also strengthened their friendships with each other, and according to Derenzo, the trip brought him close to some classmates whom he had previously never known. From forever bonding the students who attended the pilgrimage and encouraging them to live with purpose, to elevating the Oratory for all future generations of Arrows, it’s clear that this trip will have powerful effects for years to come.