Thousands attended the Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Mission, Saturday, Aug. 21, hosted by St. Joseph's Parish.

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The annual event at Fraser River Heritage Park draws Catholics from parishes around the Archdiocese of Vancouver for the event in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.

The pilgrimage celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the third Saturday of August each year.

Father Ken Forster, OMI, celebrated Mass, then led the crowd in procession up the hill to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, for recitation of the Rosary with the First Nations people of St. Paul's Parish in North Vancouver.

The event traces its origin back to the founding of the archdiocese. Bishop Louis Joseph d'Herbomez, OMI, bishop from 1864-1890 of what was then the Vicariate Apostolic of British Columbia, used to meditate at a particular spot on the Fraser River because it reminded him of the grotto of Lady in Lourdes, France.

His dying wish was that a grotto be built on this spot; the orders to build the grotto were found two years after his death.

Completed in 1892, the grotto, which was the largest Marian shrine in B.C., came to be known as the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. It was so striking and prominent that the community surrounding St. Mary's Mission, where the grotto was located, became known as Mission.

Unfortunately, the grotto fell into disuse and was torn down in 1965, and the land sold to the provincial government for $1.

In 1988 the Knights of Columbus and the Mission Heritage Association began a fund to rebuild the grotto, and it was reopened in 1997.

Photos: Tangerine Graphic Communications  www.tan-ger-ine.com.