Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Our Lady of Lourdes, Feast of

February 11The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes commemorates the first of 18 appearances of the Virgin Mary to a 14-year-old French peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous. The young girl's visions occurred between February 11 and July 16, 1858, near the town of Lourdes. The Virgin led her to a nearby grotto, and the miraculous spring that appeared there has been associated ever since with the power to heal.
Pilgrimages to the grotto were authorized in 1862, and the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes was extended to the entire Roman Catholic Church in 1907. Some five million people a year make the pilgrimage to Lourdes, making it one of the world's major pilgrimage sites. Many of them are sick, and the cures they report are reviewed by a special medical bureau. As of 1976, the Church had accepted only 63 of these cures as miraculous.
CONTACTS:
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes
1 Ave., Monseigneur Theas
Lourdes, 65108 France
33-5-6242-7878; fax: 33-5-6242-7877
www.lourdes-france.com/index.php?lang=en
SOURCES:
AnnivHol-2000, p. 25
BkHolWrld-1986, Feb 11
DaysCustFaith-1957, p. 50
DictWrldRel-1989, p. 439
OxYear-1999, pp. 73, 158