Stock Photo - The huge National Male Pilgrimage to Lourdes - 18th-22nd April 1899. Worshippers in the Place De La Basilique. The organisers of this great pilgrimage hoped and wished to see 30,000 men before the Grotto at Lourdes, but the result was far beyond expectation. During these days of pilgrimage the Railway Companies collected 66,000 tickets from men alone at the Lourdes Railway Station. Unlike the National Pilgrimage which visited Lourdes every August, (during the Octave of the Assumption) this gathering was not composed of sick people and their friends coming to look for the cure of bodily suffering and restoration to health. This was a gathering of men in their full health and vigour—assembled at Lourdes to honour the Immaculate Virgin, who has shown herself so mindful of France, and who has striven so patiently to keep the faith in that great country.