Liverpool hospitalité
The Liverpool Hospitalité is a group of volunteers linked to the annual Liverpool Archdiocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes. Members care for sick or disabled pilgrims during travel and while in Lourdes, and support those staying in hotels. It is connected to Lourdes’ own Hospitalité Notre Dame de Lourdes, as are all Hospitalités.
The first Liverpool pilgrimage was in 1923, when Jack Traynor, a man wounded in war, was reportedly cured and later returned to Lourdes as a Brancardier. Initially, helpers were recruited from pilgrims; in 1927 the Liverpool Association of Handmaids was formed to create a permanent, year‑round team to assist the pilgrimage and raise funds.
In 1928 the Confraternity of the Hospitalité of Lourdes became an Archconfraternity, allowing affiliation of diocesan groups. Liverpool was granted affiliation, so its members could gain the indulgences of the Archconfraternity. World War II paused pilgrimages, and after the war the associations’ constitutions were revised. In 1998 the Brancardier and Handmaid groups merged, and all members are now known as Hospitaliers.
In July 2023, the Liverpool Archdiocese celebrated the centenary of the first pilgrimage, with more new members joining or returning after a break. The Hospitalité presents service medals to its members: after 3 years, a heart‑shaped medal with a blue bar; after 5 years, one with a red bar; and after 10 years, a yellow bar. The medals show experience, and some members have taken part in 50 or more pilgrimages, even though no new medals are awarded after 10 years.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 09:50 (CET).