The jubilee pilgrimage season at Lough Derg, Co Donegal, begins on Monday with a series of one-day retreats. They continue until September.
One-day retreats have been introduced at the island for people unable to take part in the traditional three-day pilgrimage.
The three-day pilgrimage season begins on Thursday, June 1st, when in a break with tradition pilgrims will begin by walking the seven kilometres from Pettigo to the lakeshore.
The prior on the island, Monsignor Richard Mohan, has said this jubilee year will encourage many people to keep their promise to make the pilgrimage.
"Pilgrimage is one of the main themes of the Jubilee Year and, judging by the level of inquiries received at Lough Derg so far, the call to pilgrimage has caught the imagination of people on the island of Ireland and beyond." Over 20,000 pilgrims are expected there this year.
Since Christmas Day people have been invited to join the "continuous hymn of praise" in St Brigid's chapel, which continues until January 6th next year.
On Saturday, September 23rd, there will be a special ecumenical pilgrimage day to celebrate a shared Christian heritage.
Mgr Mohan said: "Lough Derg responds to a deep-felt need for personal reflection and renewal, a need as old as time itself. The pilgrimage evolved through 15 centuries: pilgrims return again and again to reclaim the inner peace which participation in the Lough Derg pilgrimage brings."
