Octave Mass in English:  As part of the Octave programme Fr Michael will be celebrating Mass in the cathedral on Monday 3 May at 6pm and members of our community will lead the music and the liturgy of the word.  Places are limited to 100.  Please reserve seats for this Mass via the parish office: parish@catholic.lu

The Octave of Our Lady 2021 begins on the fourth Sunday after Easter, 25 April, when all the  linguistic communities and the wider Church in Luxembourg usually join together in a special Mass at the Cathedral at 10.30am called the “Messe du Peuple de Dieu” or “Mass of the People of God”. It is a special and historical occasion. The name of the Mass is a reference to the Book of Revelation:

“I looked, and there was an enormous crowd – no one could count all the people! They were from every race, tribe, nation and language, and they stood in front of the throne and of the Lamb.”

The tradition of the Octave of Our Lady, Mother of God, goes back almost 400 years to the 1620s. At the time, Europe was riven by sectarian conflict during the Thirty Years War and the population had been decimated by the plague. The people of Luxembourg identified Our Lady, Mother of God, as “Consoler of the Afflicted” – and a pilgrimage to and veneration of the statue of Our Lady began, which continues to the present day.

 The full programme can be found on cathol.lu.  With the pandemic there will be no processions this year and numbers at all Masses and services will be limited to 100.