Family of Our Lady of Lourdes membership concession, as attested by the sanctuary’s regulations and current directions
Family of Our Lady of Lourdes: one selected annual member occasion
Current members follow the sanctuary’s one-annual-choice directions, with fidelity to the association’s continuing practices.
Time required A qualifying annual membership occasion and ongoing fidelity; no timed minimum
- When
- One chosen annual occasion: anniversary of affiliation; Immaculate Conception (8 December); Our Lady of Lourdes (11 February); 18 February; 25 February, anniversary of the penitential instructions and spring; 25 March, anniversary of the apparition in which Mary named herself; Assumption (15 August); Queenship of Mary (22 August). Follow lawful transfers for liturgical feasts, while the apparition anniversaries remain on their historical dates.
- Where
- No required journey to Lourdes is established for this membership route.
- Who
- Current members of the Family of Our Lady of Lourdes
- Application
- Self or the departed
The prescribed work
- Hold current admission to the Family of Our Lady of Lourdes. Admission is recorded for three years and must be renewed; this is membership validity, not a three-year wait.
- Remain faithful to the association’s practices in Article 3: daily prayer including all or part of the Rosary and the Act of Trust in Mary, penitence and humility, sacramental life, fraternal participation, prayer for the Pope, and works of mercy.
- Select one annual occasion from the list below, observing the shrine’s current once-yearly direction.
- Fulfill the usual plenary conditions: confession, Communion, prayer for the Pope’s intentions, and complete detachment from every sin.
The work and its conditions
A plenary indulgence also requires complete detachment from every sin, sacramental confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions, subject to the grant’s stated exceptions. The ordinary limit is one plenary indulgence per day.
Conditions common to every indulgence
The person gaining an indulgence must be baptized, not excommunicated, and in the state of grace at least when the prescribed works are completed. There must be at least a general intention to gain indulgences, and the prescribed work must be performed at the time and in the manner required by the grant.
Read the full conditions and norms. The cited grant and its specific provisions govern.
Time required
Read each branch with its own conditions. An editorial estimate is not a prescribed minimum.
The member’s selected annual occasion
Duration varies
No fixed number of minutes is prescribed
This is a membership privilege with continuing practices, not a short standalone prayer. The three-year admission term is not time spent completing an indulgence. The listed calendar dates remain alternatives within this bounded annual choice.
Timing sources
- Sanctuary of Lourdes: Family archconfraternity regulationsArticles 3–5, PDF pp.4–5: ongoing practices, named indulgenced occasions and three-year renewable admission.
- Sanctuary of Lourdes: current Family membership directionsFrench membership page, “La famille Notre-Dame de Lourdes”: one selected occasion each year, expressly including 25 February. The regulation booklet’s Article 4 omits that date but does not deny it.
What the time estimate excludes
- Travel and separately fulfilled sacramental conditions
Occasion and source notes
The calendar shows possible choices, not a fresh annual entitlement on every listed date. Membership occasions do not receive the preceding-noon church-visit window. The 25 March occasion is the historical apparition anniversary, not an assumed transferred Annunciation observance.
The complete special rescript has not been recovered. The sanctuary’s competent current directions support this bounded annual route. A donation mentioned in the booklet is an invitation, not an indulgence condition. Follow the complete association practices, including the booklet’s qualifications on monthly confession where possible. The linked Act of trust is one continuing membership practice; its recitation alone is not the complete plenary work.
The sanctuary’s current French webpage positively teaches this one-annual-choice route, including 25 February. The regulation booklet confirms the other named occasions and ongoing practices, but does not state the webpage’s annual cap. This listing does not establish that once yearly is the concession’s proven legal maximum; any more frequent entitlement and the complete rescript remain unresolved. The booklet’s omission of 25 February is not treated as a denial of the current webpage’s explicit direction.
Prayer texts and resources
Follow the prayer count and formula specified in the requirements.
Source and exact reference
- Sanctuary of Lourdes: Family archconfraternity regulationsArticles 3–5, PDF pp.4–5: ongoing practices, named indulgenced occasions and three-year renewable admission.
- Sanctuary of Lourdes: current Family membership directionsFrench membership page, “La famille Notre-Dame de Lourdes”: one selected occasion each year, expressly including 25 February. The regulation booklet’s Article 4 omits that date but does not deny it.
Prayer texts and grants have separate source histories. Consult the grant source for the prescribed work, occasion, and conditions.