Miracle of the Grotto of Lourdes
The Miracle of the Grotto of Lourdes refers to a series of visions experienced by Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old girl from Lourdes, France, beginning on February 11, 1858. During her encounters at the Massabielle grotto, Bernadette reported seeing a beautiful lady dressed in white, who later identified herself as the Virgin Mary. Over the course of 18 visions, Bernadette shared messages from the figure, which sparked significant interest and drew crowds of thousands seeking their own experiences or miraculous healing. The waters from a spring at the grotto, believed to possess healing properties, further enhanced Lourdes’ reputation as a pilgrimage site. Despite initial skepticism from local authorities and the clergy, investigations found no evidence of deceit in Bernadette’s claims. In recognition of her spiritual significance, Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity and was canonized as a saint in 1933. Today, Lourdes remains an important location for Roman Catholic pilgrims and those seeking healing, with the anniversary of Bernadette’s visions celebrated annually.
Miracle of the Grotto of Lourdes
Miracle of the Grotto of Lourdes
Lourdes is a small town in southern France, not far from the Pyrenees mountains separating France and Spain. On February 11, 1858, it was the site of the first of a series of visions experienced by a 14-year-old girl who would go on to become a Roman Catholic saint and turn the town into a magnet for millions of pilgrims every year.
On that February day, Bernadette Soubirous was gathering firewood with her sister and several friends near a stream called the Gave. Near a grotto known as Massabielle, the other girls decided to cross the stream and look for wood on the other side, but Bernadette, reluctant to wade in the cold water, lagged behind. Suddenly she was seized with a vision of a beautiful young woman dressed in white. Bernadette tried to make the sign of the cross but could not accomplish this until the woman herself did so. The woman also helped her pray and then vanished. The other girls laughed at Bernadette's tale of having seen a vision, but she stuck to her story. She would return to the site on a number of occasions, experiencing a total of 18 visions of the same figure, who eventually identified herself as the Virgin Mary. Reports of Bernadette's visions spread like wildfire through the region, and crowds numbering in the thousands came to the site, hoping perhaps to see the Virgin themselves.
The local authorities and clerics questioned Bernadette extensively but could find no evidence of duplicity in her claims. Meanwhile, the legends grew of the visitations at Lourdes and of the wondrous healing qualities of the waters that flowed from a natural, previously unregarded spring in the grotto, which Bernadette said the Virgin had pointed out to her and which even today attracts many believers seeking miraculous cures. Bernadette joined a religious order, the Sisters of Charity, in 1866 and became a nun in 1877. She died in 1879. The number of miracles claimed in her name made her a candidate for sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church, and she was beatified in 1925. Her formal canonization as a saint took place in 1933, and her feast is now celebrated on April 16.