“We are under attack”: during the Rosary pilgrimage to Lourdes, there is a rush for books at the Sanctuary bookstore

This Wednesday morning, for the opening of the Rosary pilgrimage (October 2 to 5, 2024), the teams from the Grotte bookstore are in the starting blocks… “For the moment, it’s the calm before the storm. But As soon as the mass is over, around 10:30 a.m., we will be invaded, smiles Isabelle Waksman, the sales manager of the Sanctuary of Lourdes bookstore. For us, this pilgrimage is the apotheosis of the season. we have the most customers.”

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Located in the heart of the Sanctuary, at the gates of the underground basilica, the Cave bookstore is not the best-known place for the millions of visitors who visit the Marian city each year. However, the bookstore has existed for decades to allow pilgrims from all over the world to find supports and resources to grow their faith and practice it on a daily basis. A few years ago, it even evolved by integrating, in addition to books, different objects for sale, thus becoming the “official store” of the Sanctuary. “These are essentially devotional objects such as rosaries, crosses, candles… Without forgetting the authentic reproductions in different sizes of the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, which is our flagship product, underlines the sales manager. But the large The majority of our activity obviously concerns books.”

Anchor your faith

The Grotte bookstore has several thousand references. Works almost exclusively linked to religion or spirituality whether in French or in the other official languages ​​of the Sanctuary (Italian, English, Spanish, German, Dutch). Apart from bestsellers or timeless ones, the bookstore shelves are constantly renewed with new products. “The idea is to have an offer in line with the pilgrims who come here for their faith, continues Isabelle Waksman. Our mission is important: we do this profession of bookseller out of passion and conviction. Reading is a gesture against the forgetting of history, throughout the world. With books, we anchor history and for pilgrims, it is also a way of anchoring their faith.

Even more so during the Rosary pilgrimage where pilgrims are generally avid readers. “They are very demanding, confirms Isabelle. This pilgrimage also involves literature. Usually, during the season, the sale of books is roughly equivalent to that of devotional objects. But, during the Rosary, the sale of books represents more than 90% of our activity.”

Around fifty dedications

The Grotte bookstore thus took on a new dimension during this period, so much so that it was forced to extend outside under marquees. Outside, pilgrims find all the books of the different speakers who hold conferences during the pilgrimage. Signing sessions, almost fifty in total, are also on the program. “It’s a real headache to organize everything,” breathes Isabelle. “But when we see the queue for a book after a conference, we say to ourselves that we’re not doing this for nothing…” At the bookstore in the Grotto, the rush has only just begun for this 116th Rosary pilgrimage.