Lourdes, France · The Pyrenees · 1858
In a small grotto at the foot of the Pyrenees, Our Lady appeared to a poor, asthmatic, fourteen-year-old girl named Bernadette Soubirous. The world has not been the same since. Each year, more than six million pilgrims come to Lourdes — many sick, many seeking healing, all welcomed by the Mother who first appeared here as the Immaculate Conception.
The Apparitions
On a cold February morning in 1858, Bernadette went with her sister and a friend to gather firewood near the river Gave. As she crossed near the rocky niche of Massabielle, she heard a sound like a sudden wind and looked up. In the hollow of the rock she saw a young woman dressed in white, with a blue sash, a yellow rose on each foot, and a rosary hanging from her arm.
Bernadette knelt and prayed the Rosary. The Lady prayed it with her — slipping the beads through her fingers in silence, joining only at the Glory Be. Over the course of eighteen apparitions between February 11 and July 16, 1858, she asked Bernadette to pray for sinners, to do penance, and — on February 25 — to drink and wash in the spring that had not yet appeared. Bernadette dug into the mud with her hand. Water rose. The spring still flows today.
When at last the girl asked the Lady’s name, the woman folded her hands, raised her eyes to heaven, and answered: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” This was four years after Pope Pius IX had defined the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception — a teaching the illiterate peasant girl could not have invented.
The Sanctuary Today
Above the grotto rises the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Below the esplanade, the underground Basilica of Saint Pius X holds twenty-five thousand pilgrims for Mass. The water of the spring flows into pools where the sick are bathed. Sixty-nine miracles have been officially recognized by the Church; the actual number known only to God.
Most pilgrims do not come asking to be cured. They come asking to be loved — and Lourdes, above all, is a place where the suffering are loved. Every evening as the sun goes down, candles fill the esplanade and pilgrims walk the grounds praying the Rosary in dozens of languages. The Magnificat echoes off the mountains.
A Prayer at Lourdes
Immaculate Mary, Mother of God and our Mother,
who appeared at Lourdes to a child who was poor —
look upon all who carry illness, fear, and longing this hour.
Where there is pain, bring rest.
Where there is despair, bring hope.
Where there is loneliness, let your nearness be felt.
Pray for us, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Live from Lourdes
The Sanctuary of Lourdes broadcasts live every day — daily Mass, the Eucharistic procession, and the evening torchlight Rosary. When you arrive, the Rosary may already be in progress somewhere in the world.
Visit & Learn More
- Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes (official): lourdes-france.org
- Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Lourdes
Journey with Mary: A Path to Jesus 