Ampleforth OAs

"Not Strangers But Pilgrims - A History of Ampleforth in Lourdes"

The Ampleforth Pilgrimage is unique. It seems to be the only Benedictine pilgrimage that goes regularly to Lourdes. It is a Pilgrimage of service – everyone who takes part goes as a helper to serve our Hospital Pilgrims. It is a family pilgrimage – from the very beginning it has had an unusually large number of family groups, parents and children, married couples, the whole age range from 17 to 90. So Ampleforth has done something unique in its engagement with Lourdes.

Since it was founded nearly sixty years ago, the Ampleforth Pilgrimage has taken about 2,600 sick and disabled pilgrims who have stayed in the hospitals and nearly 5.300 helpers who have looked after them. Most of those helpers have had a close involvement with Ampleforth – many of them as pupils or past pupils from the school or their families. It reveals a lot about Ampleforth that it should have produced so much good, and affected many people’s lives, in the generous service shown in Lourdes.

This history traces not only the story of one Pilgrimage and how it developed and changed over the years, it shows how a little, grey, work-a-day, provincial French town became the greatest pilgrimage centre in France, in Europe and finally in the world. It is a surprising and remarkable story. It shows how the Church and society changed in the twentieth century and Lourdes and the Ampleforth Pilgrimage changed too. It celebrates wonderful good will and great generosity: how ordinary people discovered the beauty and scale of God’s grace in their lives. 

Mrs Susan Tams
Outlanes Croft
Old Road
Stone
Staffordshire
ST15 8UT