The Immaculate Conception Musical Association of Ħamrun is organising a tour of Lourdes between Saturday and May 1 as it marks the 45th anniversary of its foundation. This will be the band club’s first activity abroad.
The tour will also coincide with the 170th anniversary since Pope Pio IX in 1854 declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Only four years later, according to the miracle of Lourdes, Our Lady herself confirmed she is the Immaculate Conception during an apparition in the cave of Lourdes.
The band will have several opportunities to perform during the tour, including in the Lourdes grotto during a mass in Maltese on April 30. It will also take part in an international mass, where the band will perform twice.
The band has also prepared a musical programme to be performed at the church of St Joseph in Lourdes.
Other activities will see the band club take part in an Aux Flambeaux procession, where its members will lift the statue of Our Lady and will recite the rosary and sing in Maltese.
The group will also visit places related to the upbringing of St Bernadette Soubirous.