Our Lady of Lourdes is the name used to refer to the Marian apparition that is reported to have appeared before various individuals in separate occasions around
LourdesLourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes that are reported to have occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
History
The apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes began on 11 February 1858, when
Bernadette SoubirousSaint Bernadette ; January 7, 1844April 16, 1879), was a miller's daughter from the town of Lourdes in southern France...
, a 14-year-old peasant girl from Lourdes admitted, when questioned by her mother, that she had seen a "lady" in the cave of Massabielle, about a mile from the town, while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. Similar appearances of the "lady" took place on seventeen further occasions that year.
Bernadette Soubirous was canonized as a saint, and many Catholics believe her visions to have been of the Virgin Mary. The first appearance of the "Lady" reported by Bernadette was on 11 February.
Pope Pius IXPope Blessed Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest reigning Pope in Church history, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed Papal infallibility...
authorized the local bishop to permit the veneration of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes in 1862.
On 11 February 1858, Bernadette Soubirous went with her sister Toinette and Jeanne Abadie to collect some firewood and bones in order to be able to buy some bread. When she took off her shoes and stockings to wade through the water near the Grotto of Massabielle, she heard the sound of two gusts of wind (coups de vent) but the trees and bushes nearby did not move. She saw a light in the grotto and a girl, as small as she was, dressed all in white, apart from the blue belt fastened around her waist and the golden yellow roses, one on each foot, the colour of her rosary. Bernadette tried to keep this a secret, but Toinette told her mother. After parental cross-examination, she and her sister received
corporal punishmentCorporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to change an undesirable attitude or behaviour...
for their story. Three days later, Bernadette returned to the Grotto with the two other girls. She had brought holy water as a test that the apparition was not of evil provenance, however the vision only inclined her head gratefully when the water was thrown. Bernadette's companions reportedly became afraid when they saw her in ecstasy. Bernadette remained ecstatic when they returned to the village. On 18 February, she was told by the Lady to return to the Grotto over a period of two weeks. The Lady allegedly said:
I promise to make you happy not in this world but in the next. After the news spread, the police and city authorities began to take an interest. Bernadette was prohibited by her parents and police commissioner Jacomet to ever go there again, but she went anyway. On the 24th of February the apparition asked for prayer and penitence for the conversion of sinners. On the 25th Bernadette was asked to dig in the ground and drink the water of the spring she found there. This made her dishevelled and caused dismay among her supporters, but revealed the stream that soon became a focal point of pilgrimage. At first muddy, the stream became increasingly clean. As word spread, this water was given to medical patients of all kinds, and numerous miracle cures were reported. Seven of these cures were confirmed as lacking any medical explanations by Professor Verges in 1860. The first person with a “certified miracle” was a woman, whose right hand had been deformed as a consequence of an accident. Several miracles turned out to be short term improvement or even hoaxes, and Church and government officials became increasingly concerned. The government fenced-off the Grotto and issued stiff penalties for anybody trying to get near the off-limits area. In the process, Lourdes became a national issue in France, resulting in the intervention of
emperorAn emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right...
Napoleon III with an order to reopen the grotto on 4 October 1858. The Church had decided to stay away from the controversy altogether.
Bernadette, knowing the localities rather well, managed to visit the barricaded grotto under the protection of darkness. There, on March 25, she was told: " I am the
Immaculate ConceptionThe Immaculate Conception is, according to Roman Catholic Dogma, the conception of the Virgin Mary without any stain of original sin. Under this aspect Mary is sometimes called the Immaculata , particularly in artistic contexts...
" (
"que soy era immaculada concepciou"). On Easter Sunday, the 7th of April, her examining doctor stated that Bernadette, in ecstasy, was observed to have held her hands over a lit candle without receiving any burns. On 16 July, Bernadette went for the last time to the Grotto.
I have never seen her so beautiful before. The Church, faced with nation-wide questions, decided to institute an investigative commission on 17 November 1858. On 18 January 1860, the local bishop finally declared that:
The Virgin Mary did appear indeed to Bernadette Soubirous. These events established the Marian veneration in Lourdes, which together with
FátimaOur Lady of Fátima is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary with respect to reported apparitions of her to three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on 13 May. The three children were Lúcia Santos and her cousins, siblings Jacinta...
, is one of the most frequented Marian shrines in the world, and to which between 4 and 6 million pilgrims travel annually.
The verity of the apparitions of Lourdes is not an article of faith for Catholics. Nevertheless all recent Popes visited the Marian shine. Benedict XV, Pius XI, and John XXIII went there as bishops, Pius XII as papal delegate. He also issued with
Le Pelerinage de LourdesLe Pelerinage de Lourdes is the only encyclical of Pope Pius XII issued in French. It includes warnings against materialism on the centenary of the apparitions at Lourdes. It was given at Rome, from St. Peter's Basilica, on the feast of the Visitation of the Most Holy Virgin, July 2, 1957, the...
a Lourdes
encyclicalAn encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Christian church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from Latin encyclia meaning "general" or "encircling", which is also the origin...
on the 100th anniversary of the apparitions in 1958. John Paul II visited Lourdes three times and
Pope Benedict XVIPope Benedict XVI is the 265th and reigning Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the head of the Catholic Church and, as such, Sovereign of the Vatican City State...
completed a visit there on 15 September 2008 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the apparitions in 1858.
Background
To the Catholic faithful, the numerous reported
apparitionAn apparition is an act or instance of appearing, including:*a religious vision such as a Marian apparition; or*certain ostensibly paranormal experiences such as ghosts, doppelgänger or bilocation; or* any other apparitional experience An apparition is an act or instance of appearing, including:*a...
s of the Mother of God over the centuries not just in Lourdes but in many locations are a unique religious phenomenon, which give testimony of the power of God and the
mediatrixMediatrix in Roman Catholic Mariology refers to the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a mediator in the salvation process. It is a separate concept from Co-Redemptrix....
role of the mother of the
Son of God"Son of God" is a phrase found in the Hebrew Bible, various other Jewish texts and the Christian Bible. In the holy Hebrew scriptures, according to Jewish religious tradition, "Son of God" has many possible meanings, referring to angels, or humans or even all mankind...
. The Church differentiates between corporal apparitions and imaginative ones. While over five-hundred apparitions are reported throughout the centuries, the Church recognized very few:
GuadalupeOur Lady of Guadalupe is a celebrated 16th-century icon of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. The image, also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe represents a famous Marian apparition. According to the traditional account, the image appeared miraculously on the front of a simple peasant's cloak...
,
Our Lady of LausThe apparitions of Our Lady of Laus between 1664 and 1718 in Saint-Étienne-le-Laus, France by Benoite Rencurel, a young shepherdess are the first Marian apparitions to be approved in the 21st century by the Catholic Church. The apparitions were recognized by the diocese of the Roman Catholic...
, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal,
La SaletteLa Salette is a small mountaintop village near Grenoble, France. It is most noted for an apparition of the Virgin Mary that was reported in 1846 by two shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, followed by numerous accounts of miraculous healings....
, Pontmain,
FatimaOur Lady of Fátima is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary with respect to reported apparitions of her to three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on 13 May. The three children were Lúcia Santos and her cousins, siblings Jacinta...
,
BeauraingOur Lady of Beauraing also known as the Virgin of the Golden Heart is the title of 33 Marian apparitions reported in Beauraing between November 1932 and January 1933 by five children whose ages ranged between 9 and 15...
,
BanneuxIn the 1930s, Mariette Beco, an adolescent girl living in Banneux, province of Liège , reported eight visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary between January 15th and March 2nd 1933. She reported seeing a Lady in white who declared herself to be the 'Virgin of the Poor' and told her: believe in me and I...
,
Our Lady of AkitaOur Lady of Akita is the title of Marian apparitions reported in 1973 bySister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in the remote area of Yuzawadai, near the city of Akita in Japan.-Background:...
, and Lourdes.
Ecclesiastical approval occurs usually through the local bishop. In special cases, such as in Lourdes, approval occurred in consultation with the congregation of Faith and the Pope, which at the time was Blessed Pius IX. The ecclesiastical appropriation of the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic) Mother of God on a certain place like Lourdes does not imply a recognition of the supernatural origin of the apparition. It implies only that the veneration is not contrary to Catholic belief and that a supernatural explanation is reasonable.
Position of the Catholic Church
Approval of Lourdes
On 18 January 1862, Bishop Laurence, the Bishop of Tarbes, gave the solemn declaration: "We are inspired by the Commission comprising wise, holy, learned and experienced priests who questioned the child, studied the facts, examined everything and weighed all the evidence. We have also called on science, and we remain convinced that the Apparitions are supernatural and divine, and that by consequence, what Bernadette saw was the Most Blessed Virgin. Our convictions are based on the testimony of Bernadette, but above all on the things that have happened, things which can be nothing other than divine intervention".
Nature of approval
Because the apparitions are private
revelationIn religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, or making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication with supernatural entities . It is believed that revelation can originate directly from a deity, or through an agent, such as an angel...
and not public revelation, Catholics are not required to believe them, nor does it add any additional material to the truths of the Catholic Church as expressed in
public revelation. In Roman Catholic belief, God chooses whom He wants cured, and whom He does not, and by what means. Bernadette said, "One must have faith and pray; the water will have no virtue without faith."
Holy Mass of "Our Lady of Lourdes"
The Catholic Church celebrates a mass in honor of "Our Lady of Lourdes", (optional memorial), in many countries on February 11 of each year — the anniversary of the first apparition. There had long been a tradition of interpreting the
Song of SongsSong of Songs is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. It may also refer to:In music:*Song of songs , the debut album by David and the Giants*The Song of Songs , a play directed by Eimuntas Nekrošius in 2005...
as an allegory of God's love for the Church, so up until the
liturgicalA liturgy is a set form of ceremony or pattern of worship. Christian liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Christian congregation or denomination on a regular basis....
reforms following
Vatican IIThe Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October, 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI on 8 December, 1965...
, a passage from this O.T. book was used during the mass for its reference to the
"beloved" appearing in a cleft of a rock and its parallel with what Catholics have described as the "Mother of the Church" being seen in the cleft of a rock in Lourdes.
Popes and Lourdes
In the past 150 years, popes have taken great interest in Marian apparitions such as Fatima and Lourdes.
Pope Pius IXPope Blessed Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest reigning Pope in Church history, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed Papal infallibility...
approved the veneration in Lourdes and welcomed and supported the building of the Cathedral in 1870 to which he donated several gifts. He approved the veneration and promoted Marian piety in Lourdes with the granting of special
indulgenceAn indulgence, in Catholic Theology, is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. The indulgence is granted by the church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution. The belief is that indulgences draw on the storehouse of merit...
s and the formation of local Lourdes associations.
Pope Leo XIIIPope Leo XIII , born Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 257th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903, succeeding Pope Pius IX. Reigning until the age of 93, he was the oldest pope, and had the third longest pontificate, behind Pius IX and John Paul II...
crowned
Our Lady of La SaletteLa Salette is a small mountaintop village near Grenoble, France. It is most noted for an apparition of the Virgin Mary that was reported in 1846 by two shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, followed by numerous accounts of miraculous healings....
and issued an apostolic letter
Parte Humanae Generi in commemoration of the consecration of the new Cathedral in Lourdes in 1879.
Pope Benedict XVPope Benedict XV , born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, reigned as Pope from 3 September 1914 to 22 January 1922, succeeding Pope Pius X...
, when archbishop of
BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of northern Italy...
, organized a diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes, asking for the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin there. In 1907,
Pope Pius XPope St. Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 258th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914, succeeding Pope Leo XIII . He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X codified Catholic doctrines to inspire conformity in the church and rejected...
introduced the feast of the apparition of the Immaculate Virgin of Lourdes. In the same year he issued his encyclical
Pascendi Dominici GregisPascendi dominici gregis was a Papal letter promulgated by Pope Pius X on 8 September 1907.The pope condemned Modernism, and a whole range of other evolutionary principles concerning Roman Catholic dogma...
, in which he specifically repeated the permission to venerate the virgin in Lourdes.
During the pontificate of
Pope Pius XIPope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
reported apparitions occurred in
Our Lady of BeauraingOur Lady of Beauraing also known as the Virgin of the Golden Heart is the title of 33 Marian apparitions reported in Beauraing between November 1932 and January 1933 by five children whose ages ranged between 9 and 15...
and
Our Lady of BanneuxIn the 1930s, Mariette Beco, an adolescent girl living in Banneux, province of Liège , reported eight visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary between January 15th and March 2nd 1933. She reported seeing a Lady in white who declared herself to be the 'Virgin of the Poor' and told her: believe in me and I...
. In 1937, Pius XI nominated
Eugenio PacelliPope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as the 260th Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
as his
Papal Delegate to personally visit and venerate in Lourdes. Pius XI actively furthered the venerations in Lourdes by beatifying Bernadette Soubirous on 6 June 1925. He canonized her on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December 1933 and determined her Feast Day to be 18 February. Bernadette, who suffered from
asthmaAsthma is a predisposition to chronic inflammation of the lungs in which the airways are reversibly narrowed. Asthma affects 7% of the population of the United States, and 300 million worldwide...
and bone cancer, had lived on the borderline of social acceptance within the Church during her life-time. 18 February is the day the Virgin Mary reportedly told Bernadette
that she did not promise to make me happy in this world, but in the next.
Pope Pius XIIPope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as the 260th Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Immaculate conception dogma, announced a Marian year, the first one on Church history. In his encyclical
Fulgens Corona, he described the events in Lourdes as follows:
- It seems that the Blessed Virgin Mary herself wished to confirm by some special sign the definition, which the Vicar of her Divine Son on earth had pronounced amidst the applause of the whole Church. For indeed four years had not yet elapsed when, in a French town at the foot of the Pyrenees, the Virgin Mother, youthful and benign in appearance, clothed in a shining white garment, covered with a white mantle and girded with a hanging blue cord, showed herself to a simple and innocent girl at the grotto of Massabielle. And to this same girl, earnestly inquiring the name of her with whose vision she was favored, with eyes raised to heaven and sweetly smiling, she replied: "I am the Immaculate Conception."
Le Pelerinage de Lourdes is the only encyclical of Pope Pius XII issued in French. It includes warnings against materialism on the centenary of the apparitions at Lourdes. It was given at Rome, from St. Peter's Basilica, on the feast of the Visitation of the Most Holy Virgin, July 2, 1957, the...
, the only encyclical written on Lourdes, was issued on the centenary of the apparitions at
LourdesLourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes that are reported to have occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
. The encyclical represents one of the strongest pronouncements of the papal
magisteriumThe Magisterium is the "teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church". The word is derived from Latin magisterium, which originally meant the office of a president, chief, director, superintendent, etc...
on
Marian apparitionsA Marian apparition is an event in which the Virgin Mary is believed to have supernaturally appeared to one or more persons. They are often given names based on the town in which they were reported, or on the sobriquet which was given to Mary on the occasion of the apparition...
in the history of the Catholic Church. The Pope presents Mary as the model of alternative life-style. The school of Mary teaches everybody selflessness and charity.
- In the school of Mary one can learn to live, not only to give Christ to the world, but also to await with faith the hour of Jesus, and to remain with Mary at the foot of the cross. Wherever providence has placed a person, there is always more to be done for God's cause. Priests should with supernatural confidence, show the narrow road which leads to life. Consecrated and Religious fight under Mary's banner against inordinate lust for freedom, riches, and pleasures. In response to the Immaculate, they will fight with the weapons of prayer and penance and by triumphs of charity. Go to her, you who are crushed by material misery, defenseless against the hardships of life and the indifference of men. Go to her, you who are assailed by sorrows and moral trials. Go to her, beloved invalids and infirm, you who are sincerely welcomed and honoured at Lourdes as the suffering members of our Lord. Go to her and receive peace of heart, strength for your daily duties, joy for the sacrifice you offer.
One of the churches built at the site, the
Basilica of St. Pius XThe Basilica of St. Pius X, known as the Underground Basilica, is a large church in the town of Lourdes, France, and is part of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes. Lourdes is a major Catholic pilgrimage site and the Catholic Church endorses the belief that the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint...
can accommodate 25,000 people. At the request of Pius XII, it was consecrated on 25 March 1958, by the Patriarch of Venezia, cardinal Angelo Roncalli, the future
Pope John XXIIIBlessed Pope John XXIII , born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli , known as Blessed John XXIII since his beatification, was elected as the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958.He called the Second Vatican Council but did not live to see it to completion,...
. Giovanni Battista Montini, the future
Pope Paul VIPope Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 1963 to 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
, had visited Lourdes as archbishop of Milan. He became the first pope to visit a 19th century Marian apparition site, when he went to
FatimaFatima may refer to:* Fátima, Portugal, Portuguese town** Our Lady of Fátima, what believers say was a Marian apparition at Fátima in 1917** Fatima Prayer, prayer originating from what believers say was an apparition...
at the 50th anniversary of the first apparition on 17 May 1967.
Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła served as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death almost 27 years later. His was the second-longest pontificate; only Pope Pius IX served longer...
undertook three pilgrimages to Lourdes, the last one shortly before his death.
Pope Benedict XVIPope Benedict XVI is the 265th and reigning Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the head of the Catholic Church and, as such, Sovereign of the Vatican City State...
visited Lourdes commemorating the 150th anniversary of the apparitions in September 2008.
Lourdes water
See also: Lourdes waterLourdes water is water which flows from a spring in the Grotto of Massabielle in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, France. The location of the spring was described to Bernadette Soubirous by an apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes on 25 February 1858...
On Saturday, September 12, Benedict XVI, upon reaching the Grotto of Massabielle in the
Sanctuary of Our Lady of LourdesThe Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes or the Domain is an area of ground surrounding the shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, France. This ground is owned and administrated by the Church, and has several functions, including devotional activities, offices, and accommodation for...
, was given
Lourdes waterLourdes water is water which flows from a spring in the Grotto of Massabielle in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, France. The location of the spring was described to Bernadette Soubirous by an apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes on 25 February 1858...
to drink. The location of the spring was described to
Bernadette SoubirousSaint Bernadette ; January 7, 1844April 16, 1879), was a miller's daughter from the town of Lourdes in southern France...
by an apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes on 25 February 1858. Since that time many thousands of pilgrims to Lourdes have followed the instruction of Our Lady of Lourdes to "drink at the spring and wash in it".
Although never formally encouraged by the Church, Lourdes water has become a focus of devotion to the Virgin Mary at Lourdes. Since the apparitions, many people have claimed to have been cured by drinking or bathing in it, and the Lourdes authorities provide it free of charge to any who ask for it
http://www.lourdes-france.org/index.php?goto_centre=ru&id=467&contexte=en&mot=water.
An analysis of the water was commissioned by Mayor Anselme Lacadé of Lourdes in 1858. It was conducted by a professor in
ToulouseToulouse is a city in southwest France on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. With 1,102,882 inhabitants as of Jan...
, who determined that the water was potable and that it contained the following: oxygen,
nitrogenNitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N and atomic number 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78% by volume of Earth's atmosphere.Many industrially important...
,
carbonic acidCarbonic acid has the formula H2CO3. It is also a name sometimes given to solutions of carbon dioxide in water, which contain small amounts of H2CO3. The salts of carbonic acids are called bicarbonates and carbonates. It is a weak acid...
, carbonates of lime and magnesia, a trace of carbonate of
ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
, an alkaline carbonate or silicate,
chlorideThe chloride ion is formed when the element chlorine picks up one electron to form an anion Cl
−...
s of
potassiumPotassium is the chemical element with the symbol K , atomic number 19, and atomic mass 39.0983. Potassium was first isolated from potash...
and
sodiumSodium is a metallic element with a symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals within "group 1"...
, traces of sulphates of potassium and soda, traces of
ammoniaAmmonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH
3. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odor. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to foodstuffs and fertilizers...
, and traces of
iodineIodine , is a chemical element that has the symbol I and atomic number 53. Naturally-occurring iodine is a single isotope with 74 neutrons....
. Essentially, the water is quite pure and inert. Lacadé had hoped that Lourdes water might have special mineral properties which would allow him to develop Lourdes into a spa town, to compete with neighbouring
CauteretsCauterets is a spa town, a ski resort and a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.-Geography:Cauterets is located southwest of Lourdes in the beautiful valley of the Gave de Cauterets and borders the Pyrenees National Park....
and
Bagnères-de-BigorreBagnères-de-Bigorre is a French commune in the south-western Hautes-Pyrénées department, of which it is a sub-prefecture.-Notable people:Bagnères-de-Bigorre was the birthplace of:*Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke...
.
Secular views
Miracles are important events in the Christian bible and are thus part of divine revelation for the faithful Christians. Yet the advent of
rationalismIn epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
and the
social sciencesThe social sciences are the fields of scientific knowledge and academic scholarship that study social groups and, more generally, human society. The social sciences initially were constituted of five fields: Jurisprudence and Amendment of the Law; Education; Health; Economy and Trade; Art...
renewed the search for natural explanations of miracles in general and the events in Lourdes in particular. Historical, psychological,
natural analogiesAnalogy is a cognitive process of transferring information from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...
and other empirical explanations have been forwarded, all of which are welcomed by the Catholic Church, provided they are generally open-ended and un-biased. Analogies are most common in Marian apparitions, they indicate that the person involved used popular images and common language. They do not by themselves support arguments for or against the apparition itself.
Thus, Bernadette described the apparition as
uo petito damizelo ("a tiny maiden") of about twelve years old. Bernadette insisted that the apparition was no taller than herself. At 1.40 m tall, Bernadette was diminutive even by the standards of other poorly nourished children.
Bernadette described that the apparition was dressed in a flowing white robe, with a blue sash around her waist. This was the uniform of a religious group called the Children of Mary, which, on account of her poverty, Bernadette was not permitted to join (although she was admitted after the apparitions). Her Aunt Bernarde was a long-time member.
The statue that currently stands in the niche within the grotto of Massabielle (illustrated above) was created by the
Lyon||-||}Lyon , often Anglicized as Lyons, is a city in east-central France in the region Rhône-Alpes, situated between Paris and Marseille. Its name is pronounced in French and Arpitan, and or in English...
nais sculptor
Joseph-Hugues FabischJoseph-Hugues Fabisch was a French sculptor. He was professor at the école des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, and official sculptor to the diocese of Lyon.- Life :...
in 1864. Although it has become an iconographic symbol of Our Lady of Lourdes, it depicts a figure which is not only older and taller than Bernadette's description, but also more in keeping with orthodox and traditional representations of the Virgin Mary. On seeing the statue, Bernadette was profoundly disappointed with this representation of her vision.
Historical context
Many Marian apparitions, although they may occur in different ages and cultures, share similarities. Bernadette's visions took place against a cultural backdrop of apparitions and other supernatural events that bear some resemblance to Bernadette's experiences. It is likely that Bernadette would have known of, and may even have been influenced by, such events, which were woven into the fabric of her society.
For example, in nearby
Bétharram, only a few kilometres from Lourdes, some shepherds guarding their flocks in the mountains observed a vision of a ray of light which guided them to the discovery of a statue of the Virgin Mary. Two attempts were made to remove the statue to a more prominent position; each time it disappeared and returned to its original location, at which a small chapel was built for it.
More importantly, in the early sixteenth century, a twelve-year-old shepherdess called
Anglèze de Sagazan received a vision of the Virgin Mary near the spring at
Garaison (part of the commune of
Monléon-MagnoacMonléon-Magnoac is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.-References:*...
), somewhat further away. Anglèze's story is strikingly similar to that of Bernadette: she was a pious but illiterate and poorly educated girl, extremely impoverished, who spoke only in the local language, Gascon Occitan, but successfully convinced authorities that her vision was genuine and persuaded them to obey the instructions of her apparitions. Like Bernadette, she was the only one who could see the apparition (others could apparently hear it); however, the apparition at Garaison's supernatural powers tended toward the miraculous provision of food, rather than healing the sick.
Mid-nineteenth century commentators noted the parallels between the events at Massabielle and Garaison, and interestingly, interpreted the similarities as proof of the divine nature of Bernadette's claims. At the time of Bernadette, Garaison was a noted center of pilgrimage and Marian devotion.
There are also several similarities between the
apparition at La SaletteLa Salette is a small mountaintop village near Grenoble, France. It is most noted for an apparition of the Virgin Mary that was reported in 1846 by two shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, followed by numerous accounts of miraculous healings....
, near
GrenobleGrenoble is a city in south-eastern France situated at the foot of the French Alps where the Drac joins the Isère River. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère. The proximity of the mountains make the city named "Capital of Alps."The history of the...
, and Lourdes. La Salette is many hundreds of kilometres from Lourdes, and the events at La Salette predate those in Lourdes by 11 years. However, the lady of La Salette was large and maternal, not petite and girlish, and had a darker, more threatening series of messages. It is not certain if Bernadette was aware of the events at La Salette.
Contemporary Catholic interpreters had great difficulties, explaining Bernadette's claim on the
Immaculate ConceptionThe Immaculate Conception is, according to Roman Catholic Dogma, the conception of the Virgin Mary without any stain of original sin. Under this aspect Mary is sometimes called the Immaculata , particularly in artistic contexts...
, of which she knew nothing. Ecclasiastical authorities tried unsuccessfully to ridicule her statement to that effect as not credible.
Similarity to other visions
When comparing the various
visions of Jesus and MarySince the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Calvary until today, a number of people have claimed to have had visions with Him and with the Virgin Mary in person. Discussions about the authenticity of these visions have often invited controversy...
Saint Bernadette's vision in
LourdesLourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes that are reported to have occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
France is somewhat similar to the case of Saint Juan Diego's vision in 1531 in
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Both saints reported visions in which a miraculous lady on a hill asked them to request that the local priests build a chapel at that site of the vision. Both visions had a reference to roses and led to very large churches being built at the sites. Like Our Lady of Lourdes in France,
Our Lady of GuadalupeOur Lady of Guadalupe is a celebrated 16th-century icon of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. The image, also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe represents a famous Marian apparition. According to the traditional account, the image appeared miraculously on the front of a simple peasant's cloak...
is a major Catholic symbol in Mexico. And like the
Sanctuary of Our Lady of LourdesThe Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes or the Domain is an area of ground surrounding the shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, France. This ground is owned and administrated by the Church, and has several functions, including devotional activities, offices, and accommodation for...
in France, the
Basilica of Our Lady of GuadalupeThe name Basilica of Guadalupe may refer to one of the two churches built on top of Tepeyac hill, north of Mexico City. The site is nearby the place where it is said Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in front of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin...
complex is one of the largest and most visited Catholic churches in the Americas.
The Sanctuary
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes or the
Domain (as it is most commonly known) is an area of ground surrounding the shrine (
Grotto) to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of
LourdesLourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes that are reported to have occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. This ground is owned and administrated by the
ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
, and has several functions, including devotional activities, offices, and accommodation for sick pilgrims and their helpers. The Domain includes the Grotto itself, the nearby taps which dispense the
Lourdes waterLourdes water is water which flows from a spring in the Grotto of Massabielle in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, France. The location of the spring was described to Bernadette Soubirous by an apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes on 25 February 1858...
, and the offices of the
Lourdes Medical BureauThe Lourdes Medical Bureau is a medical organization based in Lourdes, France. It is an official organization within the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, but is administered and run only by doctors...
, as well as several churches and basilicas. It comprises an area of 51
hectareA hectare is a unit of area equal to , or one square hectometre , and commonly used for measuring land area....
s, and includes 22 separate places of worship
http://www.lourdes-france.org/index.php?goto_centre=ru&contexte=en&id=431&id_rubrique=431. There are six official languages of the Sanctuary: French, English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and German.
The Lourdes Medical Bureau
To ensure claims of cures were examined properly and to protect the town from fraudulent claims of miracles, the
Lourdes Medical BureauThe Lourdes Medical Bureau is a medical organization based in Lourdes, France. It is an official organization within the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, but is administered and run only by doctors...
(Bureau Medical) was established at the request of
Pope Pius XPope St. Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 258th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914, succeeding Pope Leo XIII . He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X codified Catholic doctrines to inspire conformity in the church and rejected...
. It is completely under medical and not ecclesiastical supervision. Approximately 7000 people have sought to have their case confirmed as a
miracleA miracle is a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can be attempted to be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle worker. Many folktales, religious texts, and people claim various events they refer to as "miraculous". People in different...
, of which only 68 have been declared a scientifically inexplicable miracle by both the Bureau and the Catholic Church.
The officially recognized miracle cures in Lourdes are among the least controversial in the Catholic world, because Lourdes from the very beginning was subject to intense medical investigation from sceptical doctors around the world. All medical doctors with the appropriate specialization in the area of the cure have unlimited access to the files and documents of the
Lourdes Medical BureauThe Lourdes Medical Bureau is a medical organization based in Lourdes, France. It is an official organization within the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, but is administered and run only by doctors...
(Bureau Medical), which also contains all approved and disapproved miracles. Most officially recognized cures in Lourdes were openly discussed and reported on in the media at the time. Nevertheless, there were a few instances, where medically ascertained incomprehension turned out not to be miracles, because the illness reappeared in later years. In the vast number of cases however, the judgement of the medical and ecclesiastical authorities was holding water as beyond medical explanation in later on critical investigations.
In his documentary
The Root of All EvilThe Root of All Evil? is a television documentary, written and presented by Richard Dawkins, in which he argues that humanity would be better off without religion or belief in God....
, evolutionary biologist
Richard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL is a British ethologist, zoologist, Neo-Darwinian evolutionary biologist and theorist and a popular science author....
visits Lourdes and expresses doubts as to the "miraculous" nature of the cures, remarking on the lack of statistical evidence of any supernatural activity (despite receiving over eighty thousand pilgrims a year, less than 70 "declared miracles" have occurred) and the fact that all the declared miracles are for diseases that may have healed themselves anyway; nobody has reported the regrowing of a severed limb, for example.
Pilgrimages
The
pilgrimage siteThe Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes or the Domain is an area of ground surrounding the shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, France. This ground is owned and administrated by the Church, and has several functions, including devotional activities, offices, and accommodation for...
is visited by millions of Catholics each year. Various unusual occurrences are often reported to take place, not only subsequent to bathing in or drinking the water of the Lourdes Spring, but also during the daily
EucharistThe Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, Sacrament of the Table, the Blessed Sacrament, or The Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance, generally considered to be a commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his...
ic procession. See
Sanctuary of Our Lady of LourdesThe Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes or the Domain is an area of ground surrounding the shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, France. This ground is owned and administrated by the Church, and has several functions, including devotional activities, offices, and accommodation for...
for more information.
In popular culture
In 1943, the story became the basis of the film
The Song of BernadetteThe Song of Bernadette can refer to:* The Song of Bernadette , a novel by Franz Werfel.* The Song of Bernadette , a screen adaptation of the book....
.
Jennifer JonesJennifer Jones is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Song of Bernadette .-Early life:...
played the title role while
Linda DarnellLinda Darnell was an American film actress.Darnell was a model as a child, and progressed to theater and film acting as an adolescent. She made her first film in 1939, and appeared in supporting roles in films for 20th Century Fox...
portrayed the Virgin Mary. The film won several Academy Awards, including an
Academy Award for Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for Jones. At the first Golden Globes ceremony in 1944, Jones received the award for Best Actress and the film won Best Picture.
See also
- Lourdes
Lourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes that are reported to have occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
- Lourdes water
Lourdes water is water which flows from a spring in the Grotto of Massabielle in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, France. The location of the spring was described to Bernadette Soubirous by an apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes on 25 February 1858...
- Marian apparitions
A Marian apparition is an event in which the Virgin Mary is believed to have supernaturally appeared to one or more persons. They are often given names based on the town in which they were reported, or on the sobriquet which was given to Mary on the occasion of the apparition...
- Power of Christian prayer
- Roman Catholic Marian churches
Throughout history, Roman Catholics have continued to build churches to venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary. Today, a large number of Roman Catholic churches dedicated to the Blessed Virgin exist on all continents , and in a sense, the progress of Roman Catholic Marian church architecture tells the...
External links
Category:Roman Catholic Church in France
Category:Titles of Mary
Lourdes
Category:Marian shrines
Category:Pope Pius IX
de:Marienerscheinungen und Wallfahrt in Lourdes
es:Nuestra Señora de Lourdes
ko:루르드의 성모
it:Nostra Signora di Lourdes
sq:Zoja e Lurdës
tl:Ina ng Lourdes
pt:Nossa Senhora de Lourdes