CENTENARY DAY IN THE SUNSHINE

Those entry cards were scrapped after all
By Michael Morrissey
Lourdes, Tuesday
IN 70 degrees sun — Our Lady's weather—. 60,000 pilgrims packed Lourdes. The Papal 1.egate Cardinal Gerlier, 19 Bishops and hundreds of clergy sweltered under the cloudless blue sky.
A six foot long blue and white and yellow and white Papal flag fluttered alongside the Tricolor and flags of 42 countries; black suited peasants mixed with well dressed Americans and British. The " bar" on pilgrims without the necessary 3s. 6d. badges and cards for entering the Grotto was lifted . An hotel-keeper said that the Catholic Mayor of Lourdes had protested at the " obligation " and the charge was scrapped at the last minute. Pilgrims, however, were asked to pay the 3s. 6d. to help towards the cost of the 12,000.000 underground basilica—lemon-shaped —which is expected to be opened at the end of next month. Hundreds of pilgrims queued at the white boxes at the Domaine entrance to pay the 3s. 6d. Dean William Raftery, of St. Wulstan's, Fleetwood. Lancashire, leading a party of 34 British pilgrims, who flew for a two-day visit. said: •' This is a perfect setting for an historic occasion." Crippled chemist James Patrick Murray, of St. Edmund and Frideswide, Oxford, said " It's marvellous." Miss Mollie Faugnan, a children's nurse, of the Sacred Heart parish, Teddington. Middlesex, said: " This is a happy combination of a pilgrimage and a spectacle. Our tour is different to the National Pilgrimage in this *ay." Among the Bishops present were two from Eire—the Bishops of Kilmore and of Meath. From the United States came Bishop John Smith, of Buffalo, New York: Bishop Christopher Weldon, of Springfield. Mass. Blue uniformed U.S. Army Chaplain Fr. J. Couhig. said as he watched Pontifical High Mass— and the throng lining the semicircular road above the open-air church: " Boy, that's a sight !" .Lourdes was en fete for the cele',rations. But only 20 of the 200 hotels were open—and full. Prices were higher than ever before. At the first-class hotels which claim their service and food is London standard, a single room with private bath costs £5 a day (repeat day). Hotel owners forecast that prices in the peak summer months would be higher. Nearly every shop was shut on Tuesday morning. Only a few spivs offered chocolate. Scores of shops, however, ran up their shutters after lunch and did fair trade.
Hundreds of thousands of postcards were sent.
Work on the new Basilica which will hold 20,000 people, has been almost finished outside. Some night work is going on to speed the inside.
The new 1180,000 airport— wooden huts until recently — is open. The restaurant should be ready by April I.
An aircraft carrying 29 people from Manchester was held up with engine trouble at Blackbushe aerodrome, Hants. on Monday for three hours. A woman passenger
filled in a form for 11,000 insure nee.
After safely reaching Lourdes, travel agent Gerard McDonald said: "The traffic problem is going to be terrific in the summer when teeming thousands choke the narrow streets."
Five plane loads of 50 Irish pilgrims each arrived at the weekend. 200 Americans were present —including about 50 servicemen from Morocco. Orleans and Germany. Two aircraft came from Liverpool, one from Manchester and one from London, each holding about 30 people. Chief British representatives ware Mgr. Cyril Taylor. from Liverpool, and Mgr. Mahoney from the Southwark diocese. Thousands of flags, including those of 42 nations — Britain and the United States among them— fluttered from the Chateau Fort. A blue steel arch was thrown up over the Rue de Is Grotte. Models of the world and stars were suspended over the road. Some people calied them " sputniks." Among British -pilgrims was a Polish girl from Oldham who came to pray for her mother who is dangerously ill; two girls from Ireland also came to pray for their mother—they were f5-year-old Marie, and Eileen aged 14, Cossin, of Belfast.