Catholic Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

The Virgin Mary is one of the most revered saints in Christianity The Mother of God showed her image to believers many times One of the first miracles recognized by the church was the sight of the Virgin Mary in 1531 in the vicinity of Mexico City by the Indian Juan Diego The second time the phenomenon occurred was in 1858 in the French city of Lourdes The saint was seen by 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous In honor of this event, Catholics annually celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes on February 11 The town, located in the southwest of France in the Hautes-Pyrenees department, is one of the largest centers of Christian pilgrimage About 5 million believers visit the once provincial Lourdes every year Pilgrims hope for a miracle of healing or relief from physical and spiritual suffering Among the people who ask Our Lady for mercy, there are both Catholics and Muslims, Hindus and atheists Created in Lourdes since the apparition in 1858, a medical committee studies and registers miraculous healings, of which there are more than 7 thousand The Catholic Church has so far officially recognized 67 cases Several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary were documented in a grotto near the French city of Lourdes to Bernadette Soubirous, an illiterate girl from a poor family The first time this happened was on February 11, when she and her brother and sister went to collect brushwood in the forest The second was on February 14, when the girl and her friends went to the grotto to read the rosary and again saw the “beautiful lady” On February 21, the Mother of God appeared before 100 praying Catholics At her request, Bernadette, to whom the Virgin Mary gives a short prayer, performs an act of repentance for sinners and asks to build a chapel on the site of the grotto On March 25, during the next apparition, the Mother of God answers the girl’s question about her name: “Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou,” which means “I am the Immaculate Conception” Bernadette conveys the words in Latin, without knowing their meaning, to the abbot of the local temple The triumph of the Annunciation is the culminating moment in the history of the phenomenon After this, a chapel is erected in the grotto, and the source, which in the future will supply 100 thousand liters of water daily, is recognized as holy In total, the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette 18 times This strengthened the faith of a simple and modest girl, who, after working as a nurse, later became a nun Bernadette Soubirous died at the age of 35 in 1879 and was canonized in 1933 In 1862, the church officially recognized the apparition of the Virgin Mary as true and approved the veneration of Our Lady of Lourdes In 1883, due to an increase in the flow of believers, construction of a new temple with 15 chapels began Upon its completion in 1901, the local church was able to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes in grand style, welcoming millions of pilgrims from all over the world