Lourdes: The Apparitions and the Source of Healing

Lourdes, the Apparitions, and the Source of Healing

Introduction to Lourdes

Lourdes is one of the world’s most renowned Marian shrines, located in the French Pyrenees. In 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared eighteen times to Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old shepherdess, in a cave near the Gave River. Here, She revealed Herself as the Immaculate Conception, a dogma proclaimed just four years prior.

The Apparitions

From February 11 to July 16, 1858, Our Lady appeared to Bernadette. The central messages were calls for penance, prayer for sinners, and the indication of a spring with healing properties that would prove extraordinary. The Bishop of Tarbes approved the apparitions in 1862.

The Spring and Cures

The water from Lourdes does not have any special chemical properties, yet numerous miracles have been documented and examined by the Medical Bureau of Lourdes. Since 1858, the Church has officially recognized 70,000 miracles. Over 7,000 extraordinary cases have been recorded, though only a minority underwent rigorous investigation.

Bernadette Soubirous

Bernadette was canonized in 1933. Her incorrupt body lies in the chapel of the convent in Nevers, where she lived as a nun with the Congregation of Charity. Regarding the apparitions, she simply stated: *”My mission was to make them believe, not to make them understand.”*

Further Study

Explore Mariology, Our Lady of Lourdes, Marian Apparitions, and a Postgraduate Degree in Mariology.—

Church Teaching

> “The sign of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes was that She herself called Herself ‘Immaculate Conception,’ confirming the dogma defined by Pius IX.” > > – Pope Pius XII, Encyclical *Le Pèlerinage de Lourdes* (July 2, 1957)

See the complete list of Marian apparitions recognized by the Church.