The grotto is dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes to celebrate the 150th anniversary of apparitions to Bernadette Soubirous, a 14 year old peasant girl.

For the past decade and a half millions of people have travelled on pilgrimage to Lourdes, the most visited grotto in the world in the hope of finding inner peace and healing.

The message of Lourdes has always been that of the Good News - the Gospel message of prayer, penance and service. The story of Lourdes is essentially about the healing mercy of God and about the need for faith and prayer in our lives.

Fr Martin McAlinden, parish priest of Moyraverty hopes that the new grotto at St Anthony's will be a place of pilgrimage for parishioners, a place where they will experience healing, peace and God's mercy when they pray, and a place where they are inspired, like Mary, to say yes to following Christ every day.

A number of parishioners were involved in planning and landscaping which includes a water feature and marble statues.