Le pèlerinage de Lourdes
Le pèlerinage de Lourdes is the only encyclical of Pope Pius XII issued in French. It includes warnings against materialism on the centenary of the apparitions at Lourdes. It was given at Rome, from St. Peter's Basilica, on the feast of the Visitation of the Most Holy Virgin, July 2, 1957, the nineteenth year of his pontificate. The encyclical recalls pleasant memories of the pilgrimage to Lourdes which Pope Pius XII undertook as papal delegate at the Eucharistic and Marian Celebrations in 1937. The Pope reminds the faithful of France that every Christian land is a Marian land and that "there is not one nation redeemed in the blood of Christ which does not glory in proclaiming Mary its Mother and Patroness". He then recalls the history of Marian veneration, the history of Lourdes and the contributions of the Popes to her veneration in Lourdes. The Popes and Lourdes The first part of the encyclical reviews the contributions of the papacy to the veneration in Lourdes. Pius IX and Leo XIII The encyclical recalls that in 1892 Leo XIII granted the proper Office and Mass of the feast , which his successor was to extend to the universal Church a