LOURDES, SHRINE OF. — It is the most famous of the many places honored, as is believed, by apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Hitherto no other of these shrines can boast an approval from the Roman Pontiffs such as that of Lourdes. In 1876 Pius IX appointed Cardinal Guibert, Archbishop of Paris, as his representative for the consecration of the new temple, to which he granted the title of basilica. Leo XIII approved a liturgical feast of the Apparition of the Immaculate Conception (11 February) for the ecclesiastical province of Auch (1891), and Pius X extended it to the entire Latin Church (1907). Pius XI raised the little Seer of Lourdes to the honors of the altar (beatification in 1925, canonization in 1933) and wished that the Holy Year of Redemption be solemnly closed precisely at Lourdes (April 1935) with a triduum of uninterrupted Masses at the Grotta, sending as his legate a latere his Secretary of State, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (now Pius XII).
A. At Lourdes, Heaven has once again manifested its predilection for the little ones: Bernadette Soubirous, a poor, illiterate fourteen-year-old girl (though she appeared to be only twelve), barely instructed even in catechism, but innocent and pious, from 11 February to 16 July 1858 saw—and she alone—no fewer than 18 times, in a grotto or niche of the rock of Massabielle (Massabielle = ancient rock) to the west of Lourdes, on the left bank of the Gave, the Blessed Virgin, white-clad, with a blue sash, bright roses on her bare feet, and a beautiful rosary on her arm.
Only on the third apparition, Thursday, 18 February, did the Blessed Virgin begin to speak, not in French, but in the genuine dialect of the region, addressing the girl with the familiar “voi.” On the sixteenth apparition (25 March), after repeated prayers from St. Bernadette to reveal her name, she pronounced the profound “self-definition,” a heavenly echo of the dogma of 8 December 1854: *“Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou”* (“I am the Immaculate Conception”). The Blessed Virgin is the only created being who embodies, in the highest perfection and purity, the concept of the Immaculate Conception, just as God embodies the idea of truth and life.
In previous apparitions, the Virgin had exhorted to penance and prayer for sinners (21 February) and to tell the priests that a chapel should be built there for processions (2 March); and on 25 February the Seer, under the command of the Blessed Virgin, had dug with her own hands in the lower grotto the miraculous spring that would later heal so many sick.
Chemically, the water of the spring does not differ from that of the public fountain of Lourdes; it is common “drinking water.” Nevertheless, the civil authority, which from the outset took a hostile stance toward the apparitions, forbade for about four months (from 8 June to 5 October 1858) “in the interest of public hygiene” the drawing of water from this new spring, which still flows abundantly at 85 liters per minute. In the present pools, the water is ordinarily renewed only once a day, and into it are immersed many infirm, often suffering from contagious diseases; yet no one has ever contracted a new illness or a worsening of their condition, and many have been healed. Sixteen of such prodigious cures, carefully examined, provided one of the reasons for Bishop Bertrand-Sévère Laurence of Tarbes (since 1912 the diocese has been called “Tarbes and Lourdes”) to approve the apparitions and the public cult of Our Lady of the Grotta of Lourdes, or more briefly “Our Lady of Lourdes.” He did so with a courageous pastoral letter of 18 January 1862, that is, barely four years after the apparitions.
Other reasons for the official approval were: 1) the good spiritual effects, such as conversions and a notable revival of religious practices; 2) the clearly visible transformations and ecstasies of the little Seer during the visions: “She was transformed, her features took on an unusual expression, her gaze became radiant”; 3) above all, the precise and always consistent testimony of a most truthful witness, incapable of lying, hence entirely worthy of belief, even if this witness is only one individual, because he alone has seen something extraordinary, and if it concerns a girl of fourteen years (cf. Mk 16:14).
From April to December 1858, many other people at Lourdes and in the vicinity had “visions”; but these were hallucinations or diabolical deceptions, intended to discredit the true visions of St. Bernadette, and they were soon forgotten. The pastoral letter of 18 January 1862 does not mention them at all.
In 1861 the site called Massabielle with its surroundings became the property of the episcopal see. In August of the following year, with the personal intervention of Empress Eugénie, permission was finally obtained from the Minister of Cults to build a public place of worship at Massabielle. Immediately, the architect Hippolyte Durand and the energetic parish priest Peyramale began construction, not of a chapel as the Blessed Virgin had requested, but of a fairly large Gothic-style church on the summit of the sanctified rock. The arduous work lasted many years. The first Mass was celebrated in the crypt on 10 May 1866, and the first Mass in the upper church on 15 August 1871. The new Shrine was consecrated on 2 and 3 July 1876 in the presence of 35 archbishops and bishops, 3,000 priests, and about 100,000 faithful.
The noted marble statue, often reproduced, the work of Joseph-Hugues Fabisch, which was not much liked by the Seer, was placed in the niche of the apparitions on 4 April 1864. Fortunately, the entire grotto with its delightful panoramic backdrop has remained in its original state. God alone knows the number of prayers offered there, the Masses celebrated there, the candles burned there, and the interior and exterior miracles worked there over the years. A faint idea of this is given by the enormous quantity of crutches and other votive offerings.
The same author devotes 18 pages to the healing of a four-year-old blind and paralyzed boy. Of this, Msgr. Charles de Provenchères, Archbishop of Aix-en-Provence, declared on 31 May 1949: “Nous jugeons et déclarons que la guérison de Francis Pascal, survenue à Lourdes le 31 août 1938, est miraculeuse, et doit être attribuée à une manifestation spéciale de la Bienheureuse Vierge Marie Immaculée, Mère de Dieu. Ce décret sera lu dans toutes les églises et chapelles du diocèse... On chantera un Magnificat pour remercier Notre Mère du Ciel d'un miracle qui manifeste à la fois sa puissance et sa tendresse maternelle” (ibid., p. 160 sg.).
During the Holy Year 1933, Maria Morbidelli, one of the Daughters of Mary of the parish of St. Camillus in Rome, who had been confined to bed by pulmonary, bone, and abdominal tuberculosis, suddenly felt perfectly healed before the Grotta of Lourdes. The enthusiasm aroused by this miracle among her companions led to the foundation of the Pio International Movement for the Queenship of Mary, which is still flourishing.
Regarding two of the most recent years, Prof. Leuret provides these impressive figures:
| Year | Pilgrims | Sick | Doctors |
|------|----------|------|---------|
| 1948 | 2,200,000 | 15,800 | 999 |
| 1949 | 3,000,000 | 20,000 | 1,200 |
If one can with certainty conclude the credibility of a revelation when it is guaranteed even by a single miracle, Lourdes has so many, and even recently the current president of the Medical Bureau of Lourdes spoke of the permanent miracle of the pools of Lourdes, «that none of the sick who are immersed in them, no matter how serious their condition, suffer any harm, nor experience any aggravation» (F. Leuret-H. Bon, p. 105). And the very existence of this world-famous Sanctuary, based on the visions of a fourteen-year-old girl and still full of vitality after nearly a century, is in itself a true miracle, one that no other religion can claim.
For the diocese of Lourdes,
V. TARBES
Vedi tav. CX.There is also a vast bibliography on the healings: G. Bertin, *Histoire critique des événements de L.*, Paris 1905; the publications of the presidents of the Medical Bureau of Lourdes: Boissier, Marcilhon, Vallet, etc.; Azevedo do Souto, *L. e la medicina*, Coimbra 1923; H. Monnier, *Etudes médicales de quelques guérisons survenues à L.*, Paris 1930; N. Mittler, *Des guérisons dites «miraculeuses» et «guérisons survenues» à L.*, Paris 1940; F. Leuret-H. Bon, *Les guérisons miraculeuses modernes*, 1910; R. Le Bec-F. Leuret, *Raisons médicales de croire aux miracles*, 1910; In opposition: E. Aigner, *Die Wahrheit über eine Wunderheilung von L.*, Frankfurt 1910; M. Imbault, *L. Im Lichte deutscher medizinischer Wissenschaft*, Munich 1910; id., *Ein Lourdeswunder vor Gericht*, Frankfurt 1913.