Our Lady of Lourdes' 'descent' observed tomorrow

CEBU – To mark the annual feast of the Blessed Virgin of Lourdes, a concelebrated Mass will be offered at the Basilica del Sto. Niño on Wednesday, February 11 at 4 p.m. with Fr. Rodolfo Bugna as the main celebrant. A procession will follow at 5:15 p.m.

Prior to the feast day, the traditional observance of the descent of the Our Lady of Lourdes will follow the concelebrated healing Mass for the sick and the elderly tomorrow, February 10.

This long-running tradition called “Pagkanaug sa Birhen sa Lourdes” at the Basilica, with Don Juan Rivera and his wife Doña Andrea Rivera as the main proponents, was passed on to their daughter and matriarch of the Gullas family, Josefina “Inday Pining” Rivera Gullas.

The healing Mass to be officiated by Msgr. Frederick Kreikenbeek will start at 5:30 p.m.

Today, the Cofradia de la Virgen de Lourdes of the Basilica del Sto. Niño, led by its president Mrs. Nena Gullas, continues to spearhead this annual religious tradition which is the only one of its kind in the country. The internationally-awarded University of the Visayas Chorale will be singing in tomorrow’s healing Mass.

Nena Gullas said “we hope to make this year’s pagkanaug a more meaningful and memorable spiritual experience for the Catholic faithful and Marian devotees.”

“Ang Pangkanaug sa Birhen sa Lourdes” is expected to lend more significance to the annual feast and commemoration by the Catholic Church of one of the most renowned apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

It was on February 11, 1858 that the Blessed Mother appeared to a peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous (who was later canonized as a saint) in Lourdes, southern France - now one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the world. — PR/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)