We are particularly pleased, therefore, to learn that, on the initiative of the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, this Marian city is preparing an appropriate celebration for the centenary of the apparitions of the Immaculate Virgin at the grotto of Massabielle, and that an international committee has been set up for this purpose under the presidency of His Eminence Eugene Cardinal Tisserant, Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals.
We wish to join with you, Beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, in thanking God for the great favor granted your country, and for the many graces He has bestowed on multitudes of pilgrims during the past century.
We wish to invite all Our children to renew in this jubilee year their confident and generous devotion to her who, in the words of Saint Pius X, deigned to establish at Lourdes "the seat of her immense kindness. Every Christian land is a Marian land; there is not a nation redeemed in the blood of Christ which does not glory in proclaiming Mary its Mother and Patroness. This truth is brought into sharp relief by reflection on the history of France. Devotion to the Mother of God dates back to the early days of France's evangelization, and Chartres, one of the most ancient Marian shrines, still attracts a great number of pilgrims, including thousands of young people.
The Middle Ages, which, especially through Saint Bernard, sang Mary's glory and celebrated her mysteries, witnessed a marvelous flowering of French cathedrals dedicated to our Lady: Le Puy, Rheims, Amiens, Paris, and so many others. With their spires upthrust they announce from afar the glory of the Immaculate; they heighten its splendor in the pure light of their stained-glass windows and in the harmonious beauty of their statues.
They bear witness above all to the faith of a people which outdid itself in a magnificent display of energy, erecting against the sky of France the permanent homage of its devotion to Mary.
