The great international Marian pilgrimage of Benin

From August 16-18, 2019, about seven thousand faithful, bishops and Catholic priests from Benin and neighboring countries made the traditional Marian pilgrimage to the grotto of Our Lady of Arigbo, in Dassa-Zoumé, in the south of the country. This religious gathering is the most important in Benin, a country with 23% Catholics from a population of 8.5 million.

The theme of this year’s pilgrimage to Our Lady of Dasse-Zoumé was: "Mary, model of all missionary commitment." Delegations from the Catholic Church of France, Togo, Ivory Coast and Nigeria were invited to this Marian pilgrimage.

The Marian grotto of Arigbo is located in a rocky hill, not far from the Basilica of Our Lady of Arigbo in Dassa-Zoumé. This high place of Christianity in Benin was blessed on February 11, 1954. Each year in the middle of August thousands of Catholic pilgrims from Benin, Togo, Burkina-Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, but also France and Italy, make the pilgrimage, initiated in 1954 by Mgr Louis Parisot, a missionary in Dahomey (former name of Benin) from 1909 to 1912, then from 1919 to 1960.

The crowds of pilgrims who gathered during the weekend at the Marian Shrine of Dassa to pray the Virgin Mary expressed "their prayers, their worries, or their hopes, by letting their hearts speak."

No less than six bishops and 150 priests concelebrated Mass with Bishop François Gnonhossou, Archbishop of Dassa-Zoumé. Cardinal Jean Zerbo, Archbishop of Bamako, Mali, was the guest of honor.

Ibrahima Cisse, co-author of cath.ch in Africa, August 19, 2019