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Lourdes
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

Lourdes

Bernadette and the spring · France

In 1858 Bernadette Soubirous, a poor and sickly 14-year-old girl, saw a young lady in white eighteen times in the grotto of Massabielle. The lady called herself 'the Immaculate Conception' and asked for a chapel and for people to come in procession. At her word Bernadette dug in the mud, and a spring appeared that still flows today. Today the grotto lies at the heart of a large sanctuary, with candlelight processions every evening from spring to autumn.

Did you know?

Millions of pilgrims come every year, many of them sick, to wash in the water of the spring.

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An inspiring story

'Like a broom'

What do you do when everyone suddenly wants a piece of you?

In 1858 Bernadette, a poor and sickly girl of fourteen, saw a lady appear in a grotto at Lourdes eighteen times. After that she became famous. People wanted to touch her, and visitors asked her for miracles. She never liked the attention. She joined a convent far away in Nevers and described herself like this: the Virgin used me like a broom, and when you are done with a broom, you put it back in its corner. Why so modest? Because she knew the message had never been about her.

Millions now travel to Lourdes in hope of healing. Bernadette herself was never healed, and died at 35. She did not need to be the centre.

God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.1 Corinthians 1:27

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