The Cité Saint Pierre is situated on a hill outside Lourdes.  Pilgrims, or groups of pilgrims are received in the Cité for a period of five days, contributing whatever each one can afford. They stay in chalets in the Cité, sleeping formerly in dormitories but now in rooms for two or three, and having meals in the large refectory which holds 300 people and is mostly full. Spotless cleanliness, excellent organization, a welcoming atmosphere and an extraordinary spirit of friendliness and joy are the order of the day.

This year the Cité is celebrating its Golden Jubilee and there are celebrations beginning on 29 March. Having worked as a bénévole (volunteer) in 1979,'81,'83,'85,'89 and '91, I was invited to the celebrations. I'm not going – at 85 it's too far – but I wrote to them and sent my testimony – en Français, bien sûr – and a few snaps. The community here suggested that I write something similar for you, hence this account.

The activities of the bénévoles are very varied. I was usually a guide for English-speaking groups, but one year-1981-somebody dropped out because of illness and I was asked to do ‘ménages divers', housework really, cleaning corridors, stairs, bathrooms and, in the evening, the offices, all of which, I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed and in which at a time of bereavement, I found healing and peace.

Guiding was interesting too. All organized pilgrimages to Lourdes include a visit to the Cité and it was our duty to bring groups – of varying size – on a conducted tour, ending with a visit to the ‘Partage' where books and postcards were available and an opportunity provided to contribute to the expenses of the Cité.

The three-week stay was most certainly not a rest cure; we worked hard for most of the day and there was a certain discipline which we all accepted. A very nice young girl, student in an English Training College , said to me one day: “The theme song of the Cité is ‘I'm tired – but…'”. That about expresses what most of us felt.

I remember most of all the beautiful liturgy: Morning and Evening Prayer in common and our community Mass; the reunions with the pilgrims at night – slides, music, decades of the rosary in all different languages of the Cité, including Irish; our own reunions where bénévoles sang and danced in their own varied traditions; conversations in the bénévoles' dining-room and in the Guides' Office – young and not so young, different nationalities, men and women, students and adults, religious, seminarians, all contributing in a quite extraordinary spirit of joyful camaraderie.

I often thought, indeed, that in the Cité, for three weeks at least, the Kingdom had really come! I remember, too, my very welcome weekly half-holiday when I went down to the Baths or the Procession and always nice, once walked out to Bartrès.

All in all, the days I spent as a bénévole in the Cité Saint Pierre remain in my memory as some of the happiest in my life. Deo Gratias et Mariai.