Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown will be joined at a special Mass by his Down and Connor counterpart Bishop Alan McGuckian to celebrate the centenary of the National Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes at Moneyglass in Co Antrim.
Bishop McKeown’s grandfather James McMeel was head stonecutter when the National Pilgrimage Church of Our Lady of Lourdes was built a century ago.
Opened on August 16, 1925, the landmark church, which is in the Diocese of Down and Connor, immediately became an important centre of worship for people from across Ireland.
On the third anniversary of its opening around 10,000 people made their way to the site, including 2,000 members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians who travelled from Belfast.
Today the well-known site continues to be a place of prayer and contemplation for many.
During Covid the shrine was a sanctuary, with large crowds regularly attending outdoor Mass in the grotto.
For many the experience evoked the spirit of those, who centuries before, overcame their own adversity to attend the nearby Cam Mass Rock.
Last year, relics of St Bernadette, who witnessed the Blessed Mother in Lourdes in 1858, were brought to the Moneyglass grotto.
The spectacular monument includes a portion of rock from the site where the Virgin Mary is said to have stood during the apparition to St Bernadette.
Just last weekend a new statue of Our Lady, which was purchased in Lourdes, was carried in procession from the grounds of St Ergnat’s GAC, Moneyglass, to the church site.
The shrine was the brainchild of Canon John O’Nolan who, along with Mr McMeel and others, went on pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1924.
When the church opened a year later the Irish News described it as “a glorious monument of Irish Catholic fidelity and devotion to the Blessed Virgin” adding that it was “Ulster’s great sacred shrine”.
The nearby grotto was completed after the death of Canon O’Nolan in 1930.
The Moneyglass shrine sits in the parish of Duneane, which also includes the village of Toome and Cargin - well known for its achievements on the Gaelic football field.
Traditional rivalries will be set aside, as they were 100 years ago, on Friday evening when the parish comes together in faith to mark the centenary milestone.
Writing in a specially published book to mark the occasion, Bishop McKeown recalls his mother Rose telling how Canon O’Nolan, who was terminally ill, asked her father to build a “niche” for a statue of Our Lady in the grotto, which was then under construction.
“When I see or visit the church, I give thanks for the many artists and craftsmen who laboured in all weather to create something beautiful to the honour and glory of God,” he writes.
“And when I visit the grotto I think of the stone cutter who worked with the hard rock to make a niche for the statue, which would draw people for almost a century.”
Parish priest, Fr James O’Reilly, said he was “humbled to celebrate the centenary”.
“The church and grotto I believe are two of the best kept secrets in the Diocese of Down and Connor,” he wrote.
His predecessor, Canon Paddy McWilliams, described the centenary as a “momentous milestone”.
“This place, crafted by our ancestors a place that has been my privilege to work and live in for almost 30 years, my little bit of ‘heaven on earth’ will continue to serve as a place for prayer, a place for celebrations, a place for solace and reflection,” he wrote.
Úna Johnston, who has helped organise the centenary event, said it is “absolutely vital” to mark the occasion.
She recalled how local people, including members of her own family, donated jewellery to be melted down to raise the money needed to build the church and grotto.
“This was a parish effort,” she said.
A centenary celebration Mass will be held in the church on Friday, the Feast of the Assumption, at 6pm.
The Our Lady of Lourdes commemorative book will be on sale on the day.