45,000 Refugees in Lourdes

Summer is the season for the great pilgrimages to the Grotto of Massabielle, but last summer with war clouds hovering, pilgrimages were cancelled and Lourdes became a deserted village. This summer it was again crowded—not with pilgrims or even tourists, but with 45,000 refugees. Refugees, Mgr. Georges Choquet knew, need spiritual consolation as well as material assistance. For this reason the Bishop of Tarbes-and-Lourdes announced that a three-weeks' mission for refugees would be conducted at the Grotto of Massabielle under his personal supervision.