FRANCE: Lourdes
Lourdes in the Haute-Pyrenees department of south-west
France has attracted some 200 million Christian pilgrims since the first
appearance of an apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1858. Surrounded by rugged
mountain peaks, the quiet market town rose to prominence when a 14 year-old
shepherdess named Bernadette Soubirous reported seeing a vision of a
beautiful lady in the Grotto of Massabielle. Wearing white robes and
carrying a rosary on her wrist, the lady identified herself as Our Lady
of the Immaculate Conception. As word spread of Bernadette`s
experience, thousands of Christians began making the journey to Lourdes.
Our Lady was to appear on a further eighteen different occasions and in
1862, declaring the faithful " were justified in believing the reality of
the apparition" the bishop of the diocese ordered a basilica to
be built on the rock. Lourdes has become one of the world`s leading Marian
shrines attracting mass pilgrimages of believers and the infirm. Arriving on
crutches and in wheel-chairs, pushed by nurses, they assemble for a
candlelit blessing at the sanctuary and to partake of holy Lourdes water
flowing from the grotto and bottled by dozens of shops. The Catholic Church
has officially recognised 68 miracle healings at Lourdes. In 2008, the 150th
anniversary of the first apparition, 10 million Christian pilgrims are
expected to visit the town .