Our Lady of Lourdes
History of Our Lady of Lourdes
The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in southern France is the most visited pilgrimage site in the world -- principally because of the apparent healing properties of the waters of the spring that appeared during the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a poor, fourteen-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubiroux.
The
first apparition occurred February 11, 1858. There were eighteen in
all; the last took place July 16, of the same year. Bernadette often
fell into an ecstasy during these apparitions, as was witnessed by the
hundreds who attended the later visions, though no one except
Bernadette ever saw or heard the apparition.
The mysterious vision
Bernadette saw in the hollow of the rock Massabielle, where she and
friends had gone to gather firewood, was that of a young and beautiful
lady. "Lovelier than I have ever seen" said the child. She described
the Lady as clothed in white, with a blue ribbon sash and a Rosary
handing from her right arm. Now and then the apparition spoke to
Bernadette.
One day, the Lady told the girl to drink of a mysterious fountain within the grotto itself, the existence of which was unknown, and of which there was no sign. But Bernadette scratched at the ground, and a spring immediately bubbled up and soon gushed forth. On another occasion the apparition bade Bernadette go and tell the priests she wished a chapel to be built on the spot and processions to be made to the grotto. At first the clergy were incredulous. The priest said he would not believe it unless the apparition gave Bernadette her name. After another apparition, Bernadette reported that the Lady told her, "I am the Immaculate Conception". Though the girl was unfamiliar with the term, the Pope had declared the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary in 1854.
Four
years after Bernadette's visions, in 1862, the bishop of the diocese
declared the faithful "justified in believing the reality of the
apparition" of Our Lady. A basilica was built upon the rock of
Massabielle by M. Peyramale, the parish priest. In 1873 the great
"national" French pilgrimages were inaugurated. Three years later the
basilica was consecrated and the statue solemnly crowned. In 1883 the
foundation stone of another church was laid, as the first was no longer
large enough. It was built at the foot of the basilica and was
consecrated in 1901 and called the Church of the Rosary. Pope Leo XIII
authorized a special office and a Mass, in commemoration of the
apparition, and in 1907 Pius X extended the observance of this feast to
the entire Church; it is now observed on February 11.
(Various sources; principal source - Catholic Encyclopedia - 1913 edition)
