Shrine of Lourdes

THE BASIC FACTS

THE DATES
Our Lady's Apparitions

The apparitions began after the start of Lent in 1858, the first one being just over a week after Ash Wednesday, on the Thursday of the first week in Lent, February 11th.

1st : Thursday, February 11th
2nd : Sunday, February 14th
3rd : Thursday, February 18th
4th : Friday, February 19th
5th : Saturday, February 20th
6th : Sunday, February 21st
7th : Tuesday, February 23rd
8th : Wednesday, February 24th
9th : Thursday, February 25th
10th : Saturday, February 27th
11th : Sunday, February 28th
12th : Monday, March 1st
13th : Tuesday, March 2nd
14th : Wednesday, March 3rd
15th : Thursday, March 4th
16th : Thursday, March 25th
17th : Saturday, April 17th
18th : Friday, July 16th

THE LOCATION

The famous town of Lourdes is situated in the Southwest of the Hautes-Pyrénées department, lying in the first Pyrenean foothills. It is overlooked from the south by the Pyrenean mountain peaks of Aneto, Montaigu, Vignemale (10,000 ft), while around the town there are three summits reaching up too 3,300 ft, which are known as the Béout, the Petit Jer with its three crosses and the Grand Jer with its single cross which guard over the town lying below.

Lourdes in located at the southernmost tip of France, just over 500 miles from the capital, Paris, and a mere 30 miles or so north of France's border with Spain.

Lourdes was originally a small unremarkable market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees. At that time the most prominent feature was the fortified castle which rises up from the centre of the town on a rocky escarpment. Following the Apparitions of Our Lady to Bernadette, Lourdes has developed into a major tourist destination as a Marian city.

The modern-day population, according to the most recent census, is just over 17,000 people, but over 5 million tourists come to Lourdes each year.

Lourdes has the second greatest number of hotels in France after Paris with some 270 establishments.

THE SEER

Bernadette Soubirous: Born on January 7th, 1844. Died aged 35 on April 16th, 1879. Beatified on June 14th, 1925, by Pope Pius XI. Canonized on December 8th, 1933, by Pope Pius XI. Feast day on April 16th (February 18th in France).

Francois and Louise Soubirous, the parents of Bernadette.

THE MESSAGE

Our Lady did not say anything until her third apparition. Here are the words spoken by Our Lady at Lourdes, during her eighteen apparitions. It is extraordinary, considering its importance, how little was said at Lourdes by Mary, that was meant for public knowledge. She did however reveal many things privately to Bernadette, which she was not allowed to divulge but had to keep them a secret. Her words could certainly be contained on a single side of notepaper.

"It is not necessary." (On being offered pen and paper by Bernadette and asked to write down what she wanted)

"Would you have the graciousness to come here for fifteen days?"

"I do not promise you happiness in this world, but in the next."

"Pray for sinners."

"Go drink at the spring and wash yourself in it."

"Penance! Penance! Penance!"

"Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners."

"You will tell the priests to have a chapel built here."

A reiteration of the request for a chapel and a further one that people should come to the grotto in procession. Mary explained to Bernadette why she had not seen her because, "there were people here who wanted to see your face in my presence, and they were unworthy of it. They spent the night at the Grotto and profaned it."

"I am the Immaculate Conception."

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US

1. Lourdes is first and foremost a CALL TO PRAYER AND PENANCE. Sin can damage your spiritual health and bring fatal consequences.

2. Yet with God, there is always a REMEDY available, even for the worst possible scenario, because God is omnipotent, He is all powerful.

3. The REMEDY that God offers us is twofold: (a) The Holy Rosary (b) Penances and (c) devotion to the Devotion to Mary.

4. However, REMEDIES will only work IF THEY ARE TAKEN AS INSTRUCTED.

5. In sickness and disease, normal nutrition or maintenance medicine is insufficient to battle a dangerous illness or disease. Large doses and frequent doses are required, and even intensive care is sometimes needed.

THE MIRACLES
We will publish accounts of several miracles of Lourdes in the days following the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Check our QUICK-GUIDE section in forthcoming days.

There have been 69 miracles officially accepted by the investigative doctors of Lourdes since 1858. The most recent one was said to have occurred in 1989 and was only just recently (2013) added to the official list of miracles.

An Italian woman who suffered from severe hypertension was cured after visiting Lourdes in 1989, the 69th such miracle to take place at Lourdes. There had been no officially accepted miracles since the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Now, in 2012 and 2013, they have added two more to that count.

Giovanni Giudici, bishop of Pavia, Italy, where Danila Castelli lives, recognized the event as a miracle last month, but tragic 2013 flooding that took place at Lourdes prevented the Lourdes sanctuary from publishing the news earlier.

Born in January 1946, Castelli started suffering from spontaneous and serious hypertensive crises (sudden, brutal rises in blood pressure) when she was aged 34, according to the Lourdes website.

Tests detected several problems, including a tumor that secretes high amounts of catecholamines (hormones such as adrenalin or dopamine) in her urogenital system. She was operated on several times without any success.

In May 1989, during a pilgrimage to Lourdes, Danila got out of the baths where she had been submerged and said she felt an extraordinary feeling of well-being. Several months later, she reported her apparent cure to the Lourdes Office of Medical Observations.

After five meetings between 1989 and 2010, the office concluded that "Mrs Castelli was cured, in a complete and lasting way, from the date of her pilgrimage to Lourdes (21 years ago) of the syndrome she had suffered and without any relation to the treatments and the surgeries she underwent."

The case was passed on to the Lourdes International Medical Committee, which counts some 20 doctors and which certified that the way she healed remains "unexplained according to current scientific knowledge".
Then the bishop of Pavia last month officially declared the cure "prodigious-miraculous".

This is the 69th such miracle attributed to Lourdes since the late 1850s. The 68th was that of an Italian nun who had been paralysed for years and started walking after a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1965. Her case was officially recognized as a miracle in 2012.

We will post accounts of several of the previous 67 miracles in the days following the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes (February 11th).

Miraculous Spring water 'on tap' at the foot of the basilicas and alongside the River Gave.

BERNADETTE,
SISTER OF CHARITY,
CARMELITE BY DESIRE

In 1866, eight years after the 1858 appartions, she entered the Convent of the Sisters of Charity at Saint-Gildard at Nevers. She had always desired to be a Carmelite, but her ill-health ruled her out of that calling. So she joined the Sisters of Charity.

Bernadette was already an advanced contemplative when Our Lady appeared, having cultivated the habit of praying always. While working or shepherding In the fields, she constantly prayed her Rosary over and over.

Bernadette aged 19, around 5 years after the apparitions and about 3 years before entering the convent.

Since the Convent of the Sisters of Charity was at such a far distance from Lourdes, Nevers was very well suited to Bernadette’s wish to hide from the public.

A map of France showing the location of some of the chief sites of pilgrimage. The distance from Lourdes to Nevers is 311 miles as the crow flies.

A view of the town of Nevers

The Carmelite convent of Saint-Gildard at Nevers, France.

Another view of the Convent at Nevers

She arrived at the Convent of Saint-Gildard on 7th July, 1866. She was twenty-two. When the Reverend Mother asked her on admission, “What can you do?” her simple answer was: “Nothing very well!” On her second day in the Convent she was obliged to tell her story to the whole community. The mistress of novices, Mother Marie-Therese Vauzou, decided to treat Bernadette twice as severely as the others, so as to guard her against the danger of pride.

St. Bernadette as a nun in the convent at Nevers, France.

On 29th July she took the nun’s habit with the name Sister Marie-Bernard. It was not long before she fell ill and had to be taken to the infirmary. At the end of October she was deemed to be so close to death that the Bishop of Nevers administered Extreme Unction and allowed her to take her vows in advance. But she recovered the next day, much to the chagrin of the novice mistress who accused her of putting on her illness! Bernadette never complained of the severity of the mistress of novices. “She is right – I am proud – I shall work at trying to improve myself!”
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Bernadette in Nevers

A photo of the infirmary of the convent in Nevers, France, around the time of Bernadette's death there.

But in 1872 Bernadette’s health deteriorated again and for a time she was confined to her room. When she recovered she reverted to the role of assistant nurse.

In April, 1875, she took to her bed again and remained a permanent invalid. Of great comfort to her was the knowledge that she lived in a spirit of close intimacy with Jesus, whose love knew no limits. ‘He is sufficient for me' she once said.Bernadette developed tuberculosis of the bone in the right knee, a most painful condition which she bore stoically. The name ‘Bernadette’ means ‘brave as a bear’, and she certainly lived up to it. Not surprisingly, she was universally loved and admired by the community she lived among, with the possible exception of the mistress of novices.

The end came on Wednesday, 16th April, 1879. Bernadette asked to be lifted from her bed. After making her last confession she recited the prayer for the dying. She asked for a drink of water, made the Sign of the Cross, bowed her head and died. It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon. She was just 35.

Bernadette after death and before burial.

Bernadette was not buried in the town cemetery. Her Mother Superior insisted on keeping her within the convent walls in a vault constructed in the secluded oratory.Thirty years after her death her body was exhumed. There was no trace of corruption, though her crucifix was tarnished by verdigris and her rosary corroded with rust, proving that damp existed within the coffin. Ten years later the body was exhumed again and once more revealed no sign of corruption. After this, Bernadette’s mortal remains were placed in a casket of gilded bronze and crystal in a chapel where all can still see her today at the Convent of Saint-Gildard in Nevers.

The incorrupt body of St. Bernadette at the convent where she died, in Nevers, France.

The face of the incorrupt body of Bernadette has been given a very light wax coating, due to slight blemishes starting to appear upon her skin.

In August, 1913, Pope Pius X conferred the title on her of Venerable. In 1923, Pius XI raised her to the rank of Blessed. The Congregation for Rites examined the authenticity of the ten miracles put forward for her Beatification. It selected two – those of Henri Boisselet and Sister Marie-Melanie Meyer.

On 8th December,1933, Bernadette was finally canonized by Pope Pius XI. Her annual feast day is 16th April. In France it is celebrated on February 18th, the date of the third apparition, when Our Lady first spoke to her.

A statue of St. Bernadette in the grounds of the convent of the Sisters of Charity at Nevers.

Bernadette as a Sister of Charity

"PENANCE! PENANCE! PENANCE!"
said Our Lady.

"I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in the next!"

St. Bernadette pray for us!

WHERE ON EARTH IS LOURDES?

Lourdes is located in southern France in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains near the prime meridian. It is overlooked from the south by the Pyrenean peaks of Aneto, Montaigu, and Vignemale (10,800 ft), while around the town there are three summits reaching up to 3,300 ft, which are known as the Béout, the Petit Jer (with its three crosses) and the Grand Jer (with its single cross) which overlook the town. The Grand Jer is accessible via the funicular railway of the Pic du Jer. The Béout was once accessible by cable car, although this has fallen into disrepair. A pavilion is still visible on the summit.

Lourdes lies at an elevation of 1,380 ft above sea level, and in a central position through which runs the fast-flowing river Gave de Pau from the south. On land bordered by a loop of the Gave de Pau river, is an outcrop of rock called Massabielle (from masse vieille: “old mass”). On the northern aspect of this rock, near the riverbank, is a naturally occurring, irregularly shaped shallow cave or grotto, in which the apparitions of 1858 took place.

Lourdes is around 30 miles north of France's border with Spain.

ABOVE: Looking west down upon the grounds of the shrine at Lourdes and the Rive Gave, flowing past the shrine to the west.

The Shrine of Lourdes is located on the outcrop of rock, called "Massambielle", which forces the River Gave to loop around it as it flows from the south and then turns to flow to the west, leaving the shrine on its south bank.

ABOVE: An aerial view of the shrine of Lourdes, located on the south bank of the River Gave, just after the loop in the river around the outcrop of land called Massabielle.

LEFT: The ancient fort of Lourdes overlooking the town, which was a base for the Mirat the Moor, in his battle with the Emperor Charlemagne in the 8th century.

During the 8th century, Lourdes and its fortress became the focus of skirmishes between Mirat, the local leader, and Charlemagne, King of the Franks. Charlemagne had been laying siege to Mirat in the fortress for some time, but the Moor had so far refused to surrender. According to legend, an eagle unexpectedly appeared and dropped an enormous trout at the feet of Mirat. It was seen as such a bad omen that Mirat was persuaded to surrender to the Queen of the sky by the local bishop. He visited the Black Virgin of Puy to offer gifts, so he could make sure this was the best course of action and, astounded by its exceptional beauty, he decided to surrender the fort and converted to Christianity. On the day of his baptism, Mirat took on the name of Lorus, which was given to the town, now known as Lourdes.

By the time of the 1858 Lourdes was a pretty little Pyrenean town, in the diocese of Tarbes. Prior to the apparitions, Lourdes was little known except for its excellent chocolate.

A view of the upper basilica and the Rosary basilica looking downstream along the Gave river.

Lourdes is the most visited pilgrimage shrine in the Christian world. Currently, around 6 million pilgrims visit Lourdes each year. It is estimated that over 200 million pilgrims have come here since 1860. From 1864 to 1872 the shrine was mostly a regional pilgrimage destination attracting approximately 30,000 persons per year. Initially the shrine was not known for its miraculous 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.

ABOVE: A guide-map showing the key points interest at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. Each number is explained below.

1. The upper Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (with the tall spire)
2. The lower Basilica of the Rosary
3. The modern underground Basilica of St. Pius X
4. The Crypt
5. The Grotto where Our Lady appeared
6. The Baths of the Water of Lourdes
7. The Church of St. Bernadette
8. The outdoor Stations of the Cross

The Grotto at Lourdes during the centenary year in 1958.

The Grotto at Lourdes around the 1960's.

When Our Lady appeared to Bernadette, the Blessed Virgin was barefooted, with a flower on each foot, and was wearing a white robe with a blue sash.

Already before Fatima, the Rosary was to play an integral and important part in Our Lady's apparitions at Lourdes. Consequently, a Rosary basilica was later built at the location of the apparitions, with 15 side altars dedicated to the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary, each with gigantic mosaic behind the altar, depicting one of the Msyteries.

The Grotto at Lourdes as it looked in 1858, the actual year of the apparitions of Our Lady.

An artist's engraving representing the first of the apparitions of Our Lady to St. Bernadette.

An artist's impression of one of the early apparitions of Our Lady to St. Bernadette.

The Grotto at Lourdes as it looked in 1914, fifty-six years after the first apparition.

After beginning to keep statistics, Lourdes reported that from 1867 to 1903 inclusively, 4,271 pilgrimages passed to Lourdes, numbering some 387,000 pilgrims; the last seven years of this period averaged 150 pilgrimages annually. Again within thirty-six years (1868 to 1904) 1643 bishops (including 63 cardinals) have visited the grotto; and the Southern Railway Company reckon that, already at the turn of the century (1900), Lourdes station was receiving over a million travelers every year.Today it is estimated that six million persons visit Lourdes each year.

The grotto of Lourdes on the banks of the Gave river.

Candlelight procession at Lourdes

PARENTAL HOMES

The home of St. Bernadette's mother, Louise, before she married Francois Soubirous.

Bernadette's father's house before it received a 20th century 'face-lift' or 'make-over'.

Original home of St. Berandette's father, Francois Soubirous, after the modern-day refurbishment.

Interior of Bernadette's father's house.

THE MILL OF BOLY
Bernadette's Birthplace

The house and mill where the Soubirous family once lived and in which Berandette was born, before the father, Francois, lost the property and fell into poverty.

The mill has been refurbished and is now a popular tourist attraction. On the first floor is the room where Bernadette was born whilst on the ground floor is the old mill as Bernadette would have known it with the two mill stones which were turned by the Lapacca stream and the kitchen which served also as a living room where the family lived and welcomed people.

Here we have the same residence as pictured in the previous photo. This is the house in which Bernadette was born, but refurbished in the 20th century.

One of the rooms at the Mill of Boly as it would have looked like at the time of Bernadette's childhood

"LE CACHOT" THE DUNGEON

The plaque "Le Cachot" (The Dungeon) outside the single-roomed home of Bernadette's family in their time of poverty. Home for them was a disused former prison cell, where a family relative allowed them to stay for free.

An older photo of the street on which "Le Cachot" (The Dungeon) or home of the Soubirous family was found. A sign hangs above the entrance to the home.

Entrance to "Le Cachot"

A prison cell until 1824, this room which is the most squalid of the whole house was given free of charge to the Soubirous family. They stayed there from winter 1857 to the autumn of 1858. It was from there that Bernadette went to the Grotto to meet the Virgin Mary on eighteen occasions. Recently renovated one can see in all its bleakness this room of 12ft by 14 ft, which served at the same time as a kitchen, dining room, bedroom and a place of prayer for six people.

The interior of "Le Cachot" the one-roomed apartment where Bernadette's family lived in poverty. Today it is has been refurbished, fitted with electric lights, heating, and coated with paint and varnishes.

Another photo of the same room, but taken from a different angle.

This earlier photo is a more realistic view, one closer to that which Bernadette would have seen in her home, minus the paint, varnish, electricity and heating system.

St Bernadette first spent time at the village of Bartres, about three miles from Lourdes, when she was a baby. An accident had prevented her mother from breast-feeding her, and a lady in Bartres, Marie Lagues, who had just lost a baby, agreed to wet-nurse St Bernadette.
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ABOVE: The sheepfold that Bernadette would have used while at Bartres.

Her second stay was when she was 13, from the summer of 1857. St Bernadette returned to the Lagues farm to help with the housework, looking after two young children, and the sheep and goats that were kept in a field about five minutes’ walk outside the village. Above is the sheepfold where St Bernadette used to shelter the sheep.

THE THREE BASILICAS AT LOURDES

1858 was the year of the apparitions at the Grotto of Massabielle near Lourdes. Eight years later, in 1866, a chapel had been built over the Grotto rock, and in May of that year the first Mass was celebrated there and its altars consecrated. This was done to fulfill a wish expressed by Our Lady to Bernadette. The three basilicas that you see below, were to be built later as money became available for the project.

By the time the first chapel (now known as the Crypt) had been consecrated, the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes had been erected in the Grotto, and a number of Garaison Fathers, who had been put in charge of the shrine, had arrived. The first pilgrims to Lourdes came mainly from the surrounding areas: Bigorre, Bearn and the Basque country, people to whom a devotion to Our Lady came naturally.

The year 1866, however, was to be an important year in another way, for it saw the completion of a railway link to Lourdes and the building of the Railway Station. A train pilgrimage from Tarbes in that same year was to be the forerunner of a rapidly growing number of pilgrimages from further afield.

The little chapel that had been built was soon found to be too small for the growing number of pilgrims, and work proceeded on the new church, planned to rise above the original edifice, which was to be its crypt. And so in 1866 the work began.

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION BASILICA

The building of the upper basilica, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, commenced in 1866 and it was blessed and officially opened by Mgr Pichenot, the Archbishop of Chambéry on 15th August 1871.

The Basilica is directly over the place of the Apparitions. Over the main door there is a picture of Pope Pius IX, who proclaimed the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, and by the entrance on the right is a marble plaque containing the complete text of the judgement made by Mgr Laurence, in recognizing the Apparitions as authentic.

The Basilica was constructed, contrary to custom, to align from East to West so that the foundation of the sanctuary would lie over the Grotto rock.

Looking upstream to the east.

On the upper level of the Basilica the stained glass windows tell the story of the history of salvation from the Fall of Adam and Eve until the raising up of Jesus, and the image of the Church

To each side of the church are a number of side altars to various saints whilst the stained glass windows above retrace the story of Lourdes, the Apparitions and the first pilgrimages. On the walls are many votive offerings in thanksgiving for graces received through the intercession of Our Lady. The Upper Basilica is also decorated with numerous pilgrimage banners given by pilgrims from all over the world.

Interior of the Upper Basilica: which was consecrated as the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.

THE ROSARY BASILICA

The Foundation Stone was laid on 16th July 1883 whilst it was blessed and officially opened on 6th, 7th and 8th, August 1889 by Mgr Gouzot, Archbishop of Auch. The Basilica was finally consecrated on 6th October 1901, by Mgr Langénieux, Archbishop of Reims.

The building is shaped in the form of a Greek Cross and built in a neo-Byzantine style. Above the doorway is a beautiful statue showing the Blessed Virgin giving the Rosary to St Dominic. On the roof a gilded Crown and Greek Cross, surmount the central dome of the Rosary Basilica.

Entrance to the Rosary Basilica

Above the entrance is a statue showing the Blessed Virgin giving the Rosary to St Dominic.

Interior of the Rosary Basilica.

Interior of the lower basilica, the Rosary Basilica

The interior of this splendid Basilica has a central dome, which rests on 4 pillars forming a square. The circular dome represents heaven and the square base represents the earth. Around the central dome the Transept and the Sanctuary contain side-altars with mosaic images of the 15 mysteries of the Rosary.

On the walls there are numerous votive offerings

One of the fifteen altars dedicated to the mysteries of the Rosary in the Interior of the Rosary Basilica.

Interior of the Rosary Basilica.

Front entrance to the lower basilica, the Rosary Basilica.

Interior of the Rosary Basilica.

THE UNDERGROUND BASILICA

Work commenced on the building of the Underground Basilica on 30th May 1956. It was Consecrated 25th March 1958, for the centenary of the Apparitions, by Cardinal Roncalli, who later became Pope John XXIII.

The Underground Basilica provides a gathering place for all the pilgrims and sick of Lourdes. The building is in the form of an ellipse, the roof is in the form of an upturned boat and the centre point of the altar signifies that the Church the “Barque of St. Peter” guided by Christ. Others have described as being akin to Jonah in the whale with the reinforcing concrete pillars looking like the bones of the whale.

The Underground Basilica is the church used for the International Mass that takes place on every Sunday and Wednesday when all the Pilgrims and sick in Lourdes join together in a unifying single act of worship. The church is able to house up to 30,000 people at one Mass.

The interior of the modern underground Basilica of Pope St. Pius X. This typical example of ugly modern architecture was constructed to be able to accommodate large crowds for the religious ceremonies during large pilgrimages. The architect, if deceased, may need out prayers.

Another vantage point in the interior of the modern underground Basilica of Pope St. Pius X

The interior of the modern underground Basilica of Pope St. Pius X

RECENT FLOODS AT LOURDES

Lourdes experienced serious damage caused by massive flash floods that swept through the area in June 2013, which followed other floods of October 2012, and were far more damaging that 2012 flood.

Snowmelt, from the Pyrénées mountain range, joined with heavy storms to form surging floodwaters in the rivers of southwestern France on Tuesday and Wednesday (June 12th-13th, 2013). The generally tranquil Gave de Pau river, rose by as much as 15 feet, officials said, spilling its banks and inundating the celebrated grotto and vast underground basilica.

Speaking of the June floods, Fr. Deburca, one of the priests at the shrine, said: “The floods came unbelievably fast. I had the last Mass at the grotto at 7:30 in the morning and we thought there’d be another mass, and suddenly the water just rose and came over and just continued to rise. Everywhere, right throughout the Pyrenees, villages had roads washed away, the speed of it was just unbelievable!”

The floods of June 2013 left 12 to 20 inches (30-40 cm) of mud in the the underground Basilica of St Pius X.

The usually calm River Gave, gave way to anger and let that anger spill over into Lourdes.

The Grotto under five or more feet of water.

In the town of Lourdes, hotels, restaurants and shops found their entire first floor flooded to almost the ceiling. When eventually the waters receded, they left all those houses, hotels, restaurants and shops with anything from 12 inches to 20 inches of mud covering their floors and furnishings.

Not quite Noe and Great Flood proportions, but is it a sign of things to come? According to Our Lady's warnings, this is just a gentle foretaste of what could happen—all because they would not listen to her message and warnings; preferring to sit down to eat and drink and then rising up to play! "Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (1 Corinthians 10:7). But Our Lady said at La Salette, that "People will think of nothing but amusement." When the time comes, the amusements will no longer be amusing.