On
February 11, 1858 in the Pyrenean village of Lourdes, France, a
beautiful young lady appeared to a poor, fourteen-year-old girl named
Bernadette Soubirous. Bernadette and her sister were searching for
firewood near the Grotto of Massabielle. Bernadette was often ill, so
when her sister removed her stockings in order to wade across the river,
the frail girl remained where she was. Soon, a strange silence filled
the air. She turned her head towards the grotto and saw in the opening
of the rock a young and beautiful lady. "The Lady" was dressed in white
with a yellow rose at each foot and a rosary draped over her arm.
Removing her own rosary from her pocket, Bernadette knelt down before
"the Lady" and began to pray.
This was the first of eighteen
apparitions of the Blessed Mother to the young girl. During the
sixteenth apparition on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, Our
Lady identified herself as "the Immaculate Conception." Bernadette ran
to her pastor’s house, repeating to herself over and over again the
strange name that "the Lady" had given her so as not to forget it. At
that time, the "Immaculate Conception" was not a well known term: just
four years earlier, on December 8, 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX had
proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the apostolic
constitution Ineffabilis Deus. Although unknown to the young
illiterate Bernadette, the name that "the Lady" had given her was to her
dumbfounded pastor more confirmation than he had ever expected.
Complying
with Our Lady’s request, there is now a church at the grotto. Our Lady
asked that people come in procession, and persevere with prayer and
personal conversion.
During the ninth apparition, Our Lady asked
Bernadette to kneel and wash in the spring. Confused, because there was
no spring near Massabielle, she began to scratch the loose gravel off
the ground inside the grotto. As she did so, a small pool formed, and
she cupped her hands together and drank, and then washed her face. The
next day, the pool was overflowing and water was dripping down over the
rock. To this spring are attributed countless cures, though only 67 are
officially recognized by the Church and medicine. The shrine is
considered the most visited place of pilgrimage and healing in the
world. The celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes was extended
to the universal Church in 1907.
First Photo by: Manuel González Olaechea
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