I have been coming since 1972 but my interest really began as a child. My grandfather was very devoted to Our Lady and was always saying the Rosary.
When I was a student at Edinburgh University in 1958, a girl from the year behind me went to Lourdes. She invited me to go but she hitched hiked and so my mother refused to allow me to go.
My friend brought me back a holy picture and a medal and I’ve still got them to this day. I said to myself back then, ‘I am going to go to Lourdes one day.’ That was my first contact with Lourdes and next year I will have been going for 50 years!
I studied medicine, qualified and did house jobs in Edinburgh. I wanted to be a GP and moved south, eventually settling in Nuneaton. I loved my career as a GP – my patients were lovely, salt of the earth, they were like my family really. I enjoyed my job immensely but after 27 years I retired completely and decided to dedicate myself to helping on the pilgrimage.
I remember the first year I was invited to go to Lourdes by the Chief Medical Officer who was a Consultant Physician in Coventry. When I turned up at the airport I knew no one except him. Little did I know then that the people I met on that pilgrimage would become life long friends. I went with a completely open mind on my first visit. I thought the commercialism would be too much for me. But when I got there I was completely overwhelmed by the faith of the sick and their relatives.
On my first visit when I saw the faith of the people before the Blessed Sacrament I was deeply moved. I cried every day for a week. I had to wear sunglasses but everybody knew I was crying. I vowed then that I would always return and I have done so. Every pilgrimage is different and each time there seems to be one person to whom you can serve and care for in a special way.
My role is to organize the doctors, do all the committee work because no practicing doctor could get the time for committee work, there is a lot of this as you can imagine. We’ve heads of departments meetings, the big committee, the executive meetings and the sick selection. I organize the sick selection and any visits that are needed.
Every body that comes as a sick patient is visited, usually by a nurse, and has a full assessment. I organize the rotas, carry drugs and there is lots of computer work. I went on a computer course and use Microsoft Office a lot (Excel and Word).
The doctors and nurses are there to be servants of the sick. We find that the doctors are usually invited by a colleague who has been before. We have some very experienced and clever doctors and they are very humble when they are in Lourdes. They always come back better for it – they feel they have benefitted – they are humbler and they feel they have been able to give something back to the patients – there hasn’t been one who has come back and disliked it.
Going to Lourdes has reinforced and strengthened my own vocation as a doctor. I have recognized the needs of the sick to talk and have things explained to them. Sometimes they come to Lourdes and know what’s wrong with them but they haven’t had it explained fully. Quite often, especially with the very sick, one of us will sit up in their room looking down on the torchlight procession and just sit chatting.
The most wonderful thing about Lourdes is the opening ceremony and seeing all the flags, banners, followed by the bishops, priests and deacons - you think this is the church. It is lovely to see the young people from our schools. I am particualry fond of the Toby Group (To Old For Birmingham Youth). They pray together, they play together and they meet for Mass every month.
When we come back from Lourdes and everything has gone well it’s a lovely feeling. To be honest after it’s all over we really miss each other and we try to keep in contact during the year. We are like a big family.
We just have a gap for August and then we are back into it. We are anticipating a lot more people for the 150th celebration!
Spiritually I find going to Lourdes so refreshing. Every year I find my faith renewed that’s the most important thing.
A medical Vocation
Dr Pat Crosby is the Medical Director of the Lourdes Pilgrimage. She is a retired GP from Nuneaton who dedicates her time to ensuring that the sick of the pilgrimage are cared for.
Bible Alive met up with her to talk about her favourite subject – Lourdes!
Bible Alive met up with her to talk about her favourite subject – Lourdes!
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