A pilgrimage to Lourdes is outside the bounds of possibility right now for the men imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison, but two Bay Area bishops brought their intentions and placed them before Our Lady at the grotto at Lourdes earlier this month.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone and Oakland Bishop Michael Barber placed the pieces of paper with the prisoners’ intentions from Our Lady of the Rosary Parish chapel at San Quentin against the stones of the grotto. Then, Bishop Barber brought them for prayer to the cloistered Carmelite nuns in a monastery located above the grotto, Knight of Malta Tom Greerty said.

Four Knights of Malta accompanied the two bishops at the grotto in presenting the petitions to Our Lady, Greerty said. Several Knights of Malta are involved in prison ministry at San Quentin and had collected the petitions from the inmates at the chapel which serves as the parish church for the prison. “Most of the petitions were for reconciliation with others,” Greerty said.

Full story at Catholic San Francisco.