You can send a petition to Lourdes through the official website of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, which offers a short online form for prayer intentions to be placed at the Grotto of Massabielle. Pilgrims have left written petitions at the Grotto since the apparitions to St. Bernadette in 1858, and many people who cannot travel still want their prayers carried there. This guide explains how to send a petition, the other ways to pray with Lourdes from home, how to write a short petition, and example petitions you can adapt.
How to send a petition to Lourdes
- Go to the official Sanctuary website, lourdes-france.org, and open the section for prayer intentions (in English the service is called a “petition”).
- Write your intention in the box. The form is short (about 500 characters), so keep it to a few sentences.
- Submit it. The Sanctuary site is available in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Dutch and Polish.
Check the official page for current details, including any optional offering. Be careful with unofficial sites that ask for payment to “deliver” petitions: the Sanctuary’s own website is the safest way.
If you are going on pilgrimage, you can bring written petitions from family and friends and leave them at the Grotto yourself, or hand them to your parish group leader.
Other ways to pray with Lourdes from home
- Light a candle online. The Sanctuary offers candles that burn at the Grotto in your name.
- Request a Mass. You can ask for a Mass to be celebrated at Lourdes for your intention or for someone who has died.
- Pray the Rosary with the Grotto. The Sanctuary broadcasts the daily Rosary and Masses from the Grotto online.
- Pray a novena. The Our Lady of Lourdes novena is traditionally prayed from February 3 to 11, but you can pray it at any time.
How to write a petition for Lourdes
- Address Our Lady: “Our Lady of Lourdes”, “Mary, Mother of God” or “Immaculate Virgin”.
- Name the person and the need simply: “my mother, who has cancer”; “our son, who has lost his job”.
- Ask for her prayers, not only for the result: “pray for her healing and give her peace.”
- Add thanks, if your petition is also a thanksgiving for prayers already answered.
- Entrust it to God’s will and end with a short act of trust: “Jesus, I trust in you.”
Example petitions for Lourdes
For a sick person
Our Lady of Lourdes, I entrust to you my father, who is in hospital. Pray for his healing, give him courage and peace, and comfort our family. Health of the Sick, pray for us.
For your family
Mary, Mother of the Church, I place my family in your hands. Heal what is broken between us, protect our children and keep us close to your Son. Amen.
For yourself
Immaculate Mother, you know my heart and my worries. Help me to carry my cross with faith, to trust God’s plan and to receive his grace. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for me.
For someone who has died
Our Lady of Lourdes, I pray for my friend who has died. Bring her to the joy of heaven, and console all who mourn her. Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord.
Thanksgiving
Our Lady of Lourdes, thank you for your prayers and for the healing my sister received. May our whole family grow in faith and gratitude. Amen.
Petitions for the sick in your parish
On the World Day of the Sick (February 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes) many parishes add petitions for the sick to the Prayer of the Faithful:
- For all who are sick in body, mind or spirit: that, through the prayers of Our Lady of Lourdes, they may receive healing and peace. Let us pray to the Lord. Lord, hear our prayer.
- For doctors, nurses and all who care for the sick: that they may serve with compassion. Let us pray to the Lord. Lord, hear our prayer.
- For pilgrims to Lourdes and to every shrine of Mary: that they may return home renewed in faith. Let us pray to the Lord. Lord, hear our prayer.
More: prayers for the World Day of the Sick and prayers of the faithful for the sick.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to petitions sent to Lourdes?
Petitions sent through the Sanctuary are carried to the Grotto, where the chaplains and the communities of Lourdes pray for the intentions entrusted to them.
Can I send a petition to Lourdes by mail?
Many pilgrims still bring letters in person. For postal options and current addresses, check the contact page of the official Sanctuary website.
Who was St. Bernadette?
St. Bernadette Soubirous was the young girl to whom Our Lady appeared eighteen times at the Grotto of Massabielle in 1858. See the St. Bernadette prayer and the novena to St. Bernadette.