The National Shrine and Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Quezon City will mark the 75th anniversary of the solemn inauguration of Lourdes Church with a Thanksgiving Mass on 15 August.

The Mass will be held at 6 p.m. at the shrine and will be presided over by Most Rev. Elias L. Ayuban Jr., CMF, DD, JCD, Bishop of Cubao.

The anniversary coincides with the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the major Marian celebrations in the Catholic Church. Lourdes Church was formally inaugurated on the same feast in 1951.

The milestone celebration will bring together parishioners, devotees, families, benefactors and friends of the shrine to commemorate seven and a half decades of faith, Marian devotion and service.

Over the years, Lourdes Church has become a spiritual home for generations of devotees and pilgrims who have gathered there for prayer, thanksgiving and worship, as well as during times of joy and difficulty.

The 75th anniversary also serves as an opportunity to remember the church's beginnings and recognize the community of faith that has developed around the shrine.

For the diamond jubilee celebration, the shrine is inviting parishioners past and present, Lourdesians, devotees, benefactors and friends to join the Thanksgiving Mass.

The celebration is expected to highlight not only the history of the church but also its continuing role as a center of prayer, Marian devotion and community service as it enters another chapter in its history.

The 75th anniversary Thanksgiving Mass will be held on Saturday, 15 August at 6 p.m. at the National Shrine and Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Quezon City.