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Below is part of the text regarding a plenary indulgence on the occasion of the Lourdes apparition. Are any Eastern Catholic eparchies/parishes planning to use this indulgence? It was announced today that we will have a procession to the outdoor statue of the Theotokos, have a molieben and say prayers to gain the indulgence on February 10th.

"PAENITENTIARIA APOSTOLICA

DECRETUM

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the manifestation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Grotto of Massabielle, near Lourdes, a plenary indulgence is awarded daily to the faithful who, from December 8, 2007, to December 8, 2008, visit piously and according to established conditions, visit the Grotto of Massabielle, and, from February 2-11 2008, to those who visit, in any temple, oratory, grotto, or decorous place, the blessed image of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes solemnly exposed to public veneration."

Dear John,

Certainly, the UGCC parish in Lourdes will make use of that indulgence, and so will many, many others.

There are UGCC parishes with Lourdes Grottos, much to the dismay of the "Easterners" - but they are there.

In the "Akathistnyk" or Book of Akathists published at Lviv in 1893, there is an akathist in honour of the Immaculate Conception with a picture of Our Lady of Lourdes on the introductory page.

In addition, at Ukraine's great Marian shrines (such as Zarvanytsia, Pochayiv and Zhyrovitsi), it was common for people and writers to refer to these as "our Lourdes."

One point should be made and that is that the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was developed AGAINST the expressed wishes of St Bernadette.

The apparition that St Bernadette said she saw at Lourdes had no resemblance whatever to the famous Lourdes statue, according to the words of Bernadette herself.

In fact, the Mother of God at Lourdes resembled the Theotokos as depicted on Eastern icons!

When Bernadette visited the shrine of Our Lady of Grace in northern France, she saw the (Byzantine) icon of Our Lady of Grace venerated there (I have the shrine booklet with copies at home, but I think they also have a website).

When she did, she exclaimed, "That is how Our Lady appeared to me! Exactly like that!"

When the RC authorities prepared the statue, Bernadette was not happy with it and said it bore no resemblance whatever to the Theotokos who appeared to her at the Grotto.

Here is the icon of Our Lady of Grace that Bernadette said was the best representation of Our Lady at Lourdes:

http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/questions/yq/yq236.html


Alex

Interesting!

Along those same lines..

I have a book on the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help which has a brief quote by Sister Lucia who said that the face of Our Lady of Fatima looked liked the icon of Our Lady of Perpeual Help.

What is interesting to me is that over the last couple of years , in the Shop in the Domain there has been more in the way of books, postcards etc of Our Lady of Grace . I'm not sure why this is - but I have noticed the minor explosion of things . On my early visits - yes there were books about Lourdes and a few about Fatima and other of the Marian Shrines - but Cambrai did not seem to feature.

Dear Griego,

I think that Our Lady really is an Eastern Catholic!

Alex

Dear Anhelyna,

I find it interesting that the RC authorities would actually resist St Bernadette's desire to have Our Lady of Lourdes represented in eastern Iconic fashion.

Wonder if this had anything to do with the way the Lourdes devotion was used in the West to support the definition of the Immaculate Conception dogma - I mean that they didn't want any reference to the Eastern Church in this manner?

Hmmmm?

Alex

Alex,

I remember seeing an icon of Our Lady of Lourdes being carried during an outdoor procession. It was quite large. I saw it on a TV program about the appartitons at Lourdes many years ago.

The icon appeared to a variation of the Bogolubskaya icon (see below) with the exception that the Theotokos was dressed according to how she appeared in Lourdes (dressed in white, blue sash, etc.)

[Linked Image]

I have also seen a nice icon of Our Lady of La Salette on a book about those apparitions.

Dear Griego,

In the East, as you know, miraculous icons of the Theotokos are honoured, including those with miraculous events and even appearances to people (i.e. the appearance of the Theotokos to St Seraphim of Sarov and St Sergius Radonezh).

There are also icons depicting these and other appearances.

It is largely due to the fact that Lourdes and Fatima are Western Marian devotions that iconography on them is not abundant in the East or else only for those EC churches and parishes that would foster devotion to them.

For example, the UGCC has neither feastday in its calendar which is not to say that individual parishes can't celebrate them.

Marian devotion, although equal in strength and glory in both East and West, has a different emphasis in both and the appearances tend to reflect those devotional emphases. This also helps promote or hinder the acceptance of the appearance in both.

Alex

Alex,

I knew that Saint Bernadette disaproved of the statue, but I had no idea that she had said that an icon was the most accurate depiction of Our Lady in the apparition. Fascinating! All in all, it makes sense to me, seeing as how icons are called 'windows into heaven!'

God bless and keep you....

So - who am I going to meet in Lourdes when I'm there this year ?

May I remind you all that daily Liturgy is at 8am and Sunday at 10am - though it is wiser to check as if large UGCC pilgrimage groups are in town [ ] timings do get changed.

The address is

Eglise Ukrainienne
8bis Rue de L'Ukraine
6511 Lourdes

France

and the phone number is 0033 5 6294 9033 - there is an answering machine - though it's not always in use. The phone is normally answered in English or Ukrainian.

But of course! Canonically she belongs to the Church of Jerusalem.. which, at the time, celebrated the Holy Qurbono of St. James..

You are good, Michael Thoma, you are good . . .

Alex

But then, is she Catholic or Orthodox?

Perhaps if She was asked that question, She just might say, "No comment!"

Alex

Back to my question--is there anything official from any eparchs/pastors that Greek Catholics or other Eastern Catholics should do what is required to get this indulgence?