Msgr. James Watkins, pastor of St. Ann's Church, is a Chaplain in the Order of Malta in the Federal Association. He is also Assistant Principal Chaplain of the Subpriory of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Order of Malta.

There are 2-3 annual Masses of commemoration in the Order held at St. Ann's.  One of these Masses is the St. John the Baptist Mass, held on June 24 to celebrate the birth of the spiritual patron of the Order.

About Our Lady of Lourdes

The Order of Malta is a Hospitaller order – born of pilgrimage.  One of the charisms of the Order is “to serve our Lords the Poor and the Sick.” 
One of the "signature" services of the Order is an annual pilgrimage to the Grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes, France, in the spring (unfortunately canceled in 2020) where all the international associations of the Order bring their sick for a week.

The Grotto at Massabielle is where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous, the poor, uneducated daughter of a miller.  In February 1858, 14-year old Bernadette was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend at Massabielle, near Lourdes, when she saw in the grotto a young woman dressed in a white robe with a blue sash and carrying a rosary.  A yellow rose covered each foot.

The lady appeared to Bernadette in the cave 18 times between February and July 1858.  During one of the visits, the lady instructed Bernadette to dig under a rock and drink from the water that welled up.   Bernadette found a little amount of muddy water, which she drank.  Subsequently, a thin trickle of water began seeping from the hole dug by Bernadette and this trickle grew wider and clearer as people came to drink and miraculous cures followed.  

In one of her final appearances, the woman told Bernadette, “Que soy era Immaculada Counchetsiou!” – “I am the Immaculate Conception.”   This expression was unknown to Bernadette, and when she asked what it meant, Bernadette learned the woman appearing to her was the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Bernadette subsequently joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers.  Always in
poor health, Bernadette died in at age 35 in 1879 and was canonized in 1933.  

Millions of pilgrims have traveled to the grotto since the time of Saint Bernadette and the Church has recognized 70 miraculous healings that have happened there.

The Lourdes Grotto live video stream is linked below. Find the Schedule of Continuous Prayer at the Grotto here.
 

Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, France, LIVE

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) maintains diplomatic relations with 110 states, has permanent observer status at the United Nations, enters into treaties and issues its own passports, coins and postage stamps. Its two headquarters buildings in Rome enjoy extraterritoriality, similar to embassies, and it maintains embassies in other countries. The three principal officers are counted as citizens.

The Order has 13,500 Knights, Dames and auxiliary members. A few dozen of these are professed religious. Until the 1990s, the highest classes of membership, including officers, required proof of noble lineage. More recently, a path was created for Knights and Dames of the lowest class (of whom proof of aristocratic lineage is not required) to be specially elevated to the highest class, making them eligible for office in the order.

The order employs about 42,000 doctors, nurses, auxiliaries and paramedics assisted by 80,000 volunteers in more than 120 countries, assisting children, homeless, handicapped, elderly, and terminally ill people, refugees, and lepers around the world without distinction of ethnicity or religion. Through its worldwide relief corps, Malteser International, the order aids victims of natural disasters, epidemics and war. In several countries, including France, Germany and Ireland, local associations of the order are important providers of medical emergency services and training. Its annual budget is on the order of 1.5 billion euros, largely funded by European governments, the United Nations and the European Union, foundations and public donors.

Locally, members of the DC and Montgomery County Regions of the Federal Association, U.S.A., serve through a number of volunteer projects, such as distributing food at Project SHARE, providing dinner to Wounded Warriors and their families at Fisher House IV on the Walter Reed campus, taking the Eucharist to Sibley Hospital, playing games with residents of Malta House assisted care residence, hosting parties for young mothers and their children at St. Ann’s Center for Children, Youth, and Families, and writing letters to prisoners. Here is a link to the Federal Association’s website.