Supporting the Pilgrimages to Lourdes Sanctuary of 24 Sick Children Treated at the Bambino Gesù Hospital
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Project location: ITALY, Rome
Project start date: October 2010 -
Project end date: October 2011
Project number: 2010-46
Beneficiary: Gran Priorato di Roma
From March (Palm Sunday) to October, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is the goal of mass pilgrimages from Europe and other parts of the world. The project goal is to organize a trip to the Lourdes Sanctuary for sick children who are treated in the Bambino Gesù Hospital of Rome. Specifically, the Pilgrimage Office of SMOM received a grant from the Nando Peretti Foundation for transportation and assistance to Lourdes Sanctuary of 24 sick or handicapped children and 24 accompanying mothers plus 3 special assistants needed. Travel and local accommodation will be free of charge for all of them. During the travel are foreseen spiritual and entertainment activities and full time assistance by expert personnel, 24 hours a day.
Children, parents and medical staff will travel to the Lourdes Sanctuary by train. The volunteer members of the Order of Malta with recreational activities and moments of prayer will animate the travel. The volunteer staff is often composed of young girls and boys. Once arrived in Lourdes, children and parents will be accompanied to the hotels. During the next days they will go all together to the Sanctuary. The fourth day they will come back to Italy.
The experience of the pilgrimage to the Lourdes Sanctuary is a source of benefit for the sick children and their families for different aspects. It is not only a precious occasion of spiritual meditation: the trip offers the possibility to spend happy days, putting for a while a distance between oneself and the pain caused by the illness.