Sponsoring a Malade on the Lourdes Pilgrimage

The Federal Association has issued the Lourdes Malade Application for the 2026 Pilgrimage and encourages Members of the Order to sponsor malades for the International Lourdes Pilgrimage in May 2026. 

What will each of us do with this opportunity?

Members of the Order who have been blessed to attend the Pilgrimage to Lourdes come home understanding that our Heavenly mother, Mary, calls malades to Lourdes.  They see that Our Lady is working behind the scenes to get certain individuals to Lourdes. They “get it” when an old friend in another State calls them and says that there is an individual who needs to go to Lourdes, can you sponsor them on the Order’s Pilgrimage?  Or when the parish priest approaches them after Mass and asks them to sponsor a malade from the Parish. Or when the local Bishop calls them to request that they sponsor a malade, because one of his parish priests has asked for his assistance to get someone in his pastoral care to the Order of Malta’s Pilgrimage.

But what does it mean to sponsor a malade for the Lourdes Pilgrimage? At its core, it means that malades and their sponsors are engaged in a spiritual commitment to each other – a commitment that is being nurtured by the spirituality of Lourdes and the healing and comfort from our Creator that the pilgrims to Lourdes so desperately seek. It means that a sponsor is committed to “walk the walk” with their malade on an unpredictable journey that is full of Grace, now and in the future. 

All who seek to go to Lourdes are worthy.  The question sponsors and the Lourdes Medical Team need to discern is whether the malade and companion are medically appropriate to travel with the Order of Malta.  To be clear, the medical team will undertake the medical evaluation and screening of all applicants, and sponsors need not take on the responsibility of delving into the medical realm.  However, there are some basic questions as sponsors discern whether to reach out to a potential malade applicant, including:   

• Is the malade physically capable of traveling to a foreign country and living in a hotel for a week with a companion caring for them?  Companions are the caregivers on the Lourdes Pilgrimage.  The medical team triages malade care to local authorities if a serious situation arises; medical team members do not deliver care on-site.  Therefore, it is not appropriate to sponsor someone that is in an assisted living or nursing home situation or is paralyzed requiring full physical care.   Here is a simple question to consider – would you be able to care for the malade you want to sponsor in your home for a week?  If the answer is ‘no’, it is likely that their companion will have a struggle as well, and they may not be an appropriate applicant. 
• Does the malade suffer from confusion or wandering?  It is difficult to take a malade with these challenges for fear of them wandering or getting lost while in a foreign country. 
• Is the malade capable of using public restroom facilities?  Can they walk independently and use restroom facilities on a flying airplane?  If they cannot take care of their natural body functions on an airplane, travel on an 8 – 10-hour flight may preclude them from being considered for the Pilgrimage.  Recall the last time that you flew on an airplane for a long-haul flight and how tight the restroom facilities were.  Can the malade that you are considering sponsoring take care of their personal needs in that space? 
• Is the family member or friend that will accompany them as a companion fit for international travel?
• Does the malade understand the application? Can they manage the electronic submission or do you need to help them complete it as their sponsor?  Are you, the sponsor, checking in regularly with the malade to assure that everything is complete – has their companion completed their application and have they obtained and submitted the medical evaluation by the deadline?

The Lourdes Medical Team recognizes that it is a long period from submission of the application in the fall to the selection weekend and final notification in late winter.  We understand that this process produces anxiety for everyone.  However, there are numerous complex steps that occur during this time which include:

• Creation of a HIPAA compliant database to manage applications.
• Initial application review of each malade and companion by the medical director so that he can provide guidance to the Pilgrimage Chair on the health challenges and make the appropriate primary physician assignment to the Lourdes Medical Team physicians. Additionally, the medical director coordinates medical review of all applicants before and during the selection process, as well as re-evaluation one month out from the pilgrimage.
• Extensive application review and phone interviews by the nursing leadership team to craft nursing assessments and undertake additional outreach to the malade, companion and medical providers for additional medical records and input.
• Face-to-face or phone medical screening meetings by the physicians on the Lourdes Medical Team.
• Lourdes Medical Team face-to-face discussion of each malade applicant and their proposed companion.  Consideration is also given to how the selection of a specific malade may impact the overall Pilgrimage.
• Identification of travel and hotel requirements for prioritized malades by the Lourdes Leadership Team.

Malade selection is a huge undertaking supported by more than 60 of our members dedicated to assuring the best possible outcome for all our malades and companions on Pilgrimage. 

In the coming weeks, may each of us open our hearts to hear the call from Mary to bring to her in Lourdes our lords the sick in desperate need of peace.