Facts about Lourdes, France

The most visited pilgrimage shrine in the Christian world,
Lourdes is not an ancient site but of more recent development. Lourdes
is the site of a Marian apparition in 185

• The pilgrimage season at Lourdes lasts from April through
  October, with the main day being August 15, the Marian Feast of
  Assumption.

• Four to six million pilgrims visit the shrine each year,
  from around the world, and it is estimated that more than 200 million
  pilgrims have come to Lourdes since 1860.

• Other important Marian apparitions have occurred in La
  Salette, France in 1846; in Pontmain, France in 1871; in Knock, Ireland
  in 1879; in Castelpetroso, Italy in 1888; in Fatima, Portugal in
  1916-1917; in Garabandal, Spain in 1961-1965; in Zeitoun, Egypt in
  1968-1968; and in Medjugorje, Yugoslavia in 1981.

 

History of Lourdes

• The origins of its sanctity begin with the fourteen-year old girl Bernadette Soubirous.

• Between February and July of 1858, Bernadette saw
  apparitions of a white-robed lady 18 times in a small grotto called
  Massabiele, near the town of Lourdes.

• In the apparitions Bernadette was told to instruct the
  village priest to build a chapel in the grotto, which many people would
  soon come to visit.

• On the day of the 16th apparition, March 25, the lady
  revealed herself as the Blessed Virgin Mary. During her ecstatic trance
  in the grotto, Bernadette began to dig in the earth until a small
  puddle of water appeared. Over the next few days the puddle enlarged
  into a pool and eventually became the sacred spring for which Lourdes
  is now so famous.

• Initially only a regional pilgrimage destination, as
  incidents of healing began to be reported, the spring developed an
  international reputation for having therapeutic powers.

• From 1864 to 1872 the site was mostly a regional pilgrimage
  destination attracting approximately 30,000 persons per year. Initially
  the shrine was not known for its curative power but after 1873, when
  incidents of healing at the spring began to be reported, the shrine
  rapidly developed a national and then international reputation for
  having therapeutic powers.

• The increasing number of pilgrims eventually overcrowded the
  original church, built above the grotto in 1876, and in 1958 an
  immense basilica was constructed.

Our Lady of Lourdes

• On the day of the 16th apparition, March 25, the lady
  revealed herself as the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is also called Maria
  de Lourdes.

Purposes of Lourdes

• Pilgrims visiting Lourdes for its healing qualities bathe in pools of water from Bernadette’s spring.

• Reports of miracles of our Lady of Lourdes are thoroughly
  examined and evidence indicates that there are many cases of verifiable
  healings at the grotto.

Theories

• Generally speaking, Marian apparitions occur in Roman
  Catholic countries; the witnesses of the apparitions are usually young
  children between the ages of 6 and 12; the messages given by the
  apparitions to the children are concerned with world affairs of which
  the children had no previous knowledge; and the apparitions make
  accurate predictions of future events.

• Regarding the reasons for the occurrence of Marian
  apparitions, D. Scott Rogo writes that it is "possible that they are
  projections of images latent in our minds which literally become
  temporarily real on rare occasions…..The key to understanding Marian
  apparitions may be in their tendency to occur at times of social
  and/or political crisis. At such times of stress, some form of mass
  telepathic communication may occur in the collective unconscious of the
  threatened culture. This may lead to the formation of a "group mind",
  which, in turn, results in the projection of a Marian visitation.”

Lourdes Rosary and Lourdes water Rosaries

• At the shrine of Sainte Bernadette it is possible to
  purchase rosaries made of wood, glass, pewter and crystal are
  available. Some of these rosaries also contain water from the holy
  spring.

• Pilgrims may also purchase a picture of the Lady of Lourdes apparition.

• Lourdes tours and tours of the surrounding countryside are available to visitors.