Catholic Journeys
Learn about our work focusing on pilgrimages by Birmingham Catholics of Irish descent.
A pilgrim touches the rock in the grotto at Lourdes.
Lourdes sanctuary during the afternoon Eucharistic Procession.
A Lourdes volunteer (hospitalier) collects Lourdes spring water from a tap.
Pilgrims praying in the chapel of Our Lady, Lourdes sanctuary.
Souvenir shop of the family Soubirous.
Evening Torchlight Procession.
Pilgrims watching the Torchlight Procession.
Prayers and flowers in front of a statue of St Bernadette.
This workstream focuses on pilgrimages to Lourdes (France) and Santiago de Compostela (Spain) by Birmingham Catholics of Irish descent. Lourdes and Santiago are Vatican-endorsed pilgrimage sites associated with healing, health, and wellbeing. They are dedicated respectively to Our Lady the Virgin Mary, and St James. Whilst pilgrimage to Lourdes focuses on the destination – a site of historical visions and a source of spring water with miraculous healing properties – pilgrimage to Santiago focuses on the process of arrival, pilgrims typically conducting a lengthy camino (road) of 400-800 kilometres, either on foot or by bicycle. Pilgrim numbers to these sites have increased significantly over the last forty years; and while some pilgrims go individually, the Birmingham Diocesan Trust among others organise pilgrimages in parish or Diocesan groups.
This workstream considers Irish Catholics’ spiritual and economic investments in pilgrimage, and their imbrications with health, wellbeing, and the body: as pilgrims seek to supplement clinical medical services with religious interventions at Lourdes, and/or enhance well-being linked to walking/cycling to Santiago. This research is based in south and central Birmingham, with a particular focus on the relocated Birmingham Irish Centre in Kings Heath, and in locations around St Chad’s Catholic Cathedral and Diocesan Centre. The exploration will shed light on the recent expansion of both pilgrimages, their significance to Irish Catholics, and how they correspond with a broader increase in medical and health tourism as a consequence of the neoliberal erosion of social welfare and public health.
Workstream Lead, Jon Mitchell
Workstream Blog
Listen to Pilgrimonics Co-Applicant Jon Mitchell talking about the Anthropology of Religion (including Pilgrimonics) on the Finding Genius Podcast
Lourdes: the spring in the grotto
- Video transcript
This film explores the theme of water, depicting its flow, from the rain of the French Pyrenees, to the river Gave that flows through Lourdes, to the flowing spring-water in the Grotto, the dripping water on its rocks and the plumbed-in taps that deliver the water to visiting pilgrims.