History of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of LOURDES

Written by Benoît Santos - Updated on Oct 27, 2024

What is the origin and history of Our Lady of Lourdes?

We have all heard briefly about Our Lady of Lourdes, but there is much more to know about the sanctuary. That is why we decided to share with you this article on the history of Our Lady of Lourdes.

In a few words, here is what you need to remember:

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is a group of buildings and places dedicated to the worship of the Virgin Mary, in France. The territory that composes it has 52 hectares with 22 places of worship. It also contains the Grotto of the Apparitions, where the Virgin appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, according to Catholic belief.

In this article, you will discover:

The meaning of Our Lady of Lourdes;
The history of Our Lady of Lourdes;
The origin linked to the apparitions of the Holy Virgin Mary.

If you enjoyed this Christian article and would like to learn more about the history of Notre Dame, here are several articles that might interest you:

And here are several articles of prayers to the Virgin Mary that you can discover on our site:

Without further ado, let's get started with the article!

Notre-Dame de lourdes, what is it?

Our Lady of Lourdes is the complex or building that includes the basilicas of the Immaculate Conception, that of Our Lady of the Rosary and that of Saint Pius X.

The complex also houses the spiritual centre of Lourdes which is the underground grotto where Bernadette Soubirous is said to have experienced her visions in 1858. From the Porte St-Michel, a wide boulevard sweeps towards the golden spires of the Basilica of the Rosary and the Upper Basilica.

Below is the legendary Grotte de Massabielle , where people queue for hours to enter and take a blessed dip in the cave's icy baths, while other pilgrims simply light memorial candles outside. There are nearly 8 million pilgrims there each year.

History of Our Lady of Lourdes.

In 1858, the town of Lourdes was a very small village with modest houses, as well as its inhabitants, 80% illiterate. This region, little known in France at that time, is located at the beginning of the Pyrenees mountain system and has a rocky promontory to the west known as Massabielle (Old Rocks).

In fact, the Catholic invocation of Our Lady of Lourdes refers to the 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary that Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879) claimed to have witnessed in the Grotto of Massabielle. Already during Bernadette's lifetime, many Catholics believed in the apparitions of the Virgin Mary as a vehicle of God's grace. Pope Pius IX authorized the local bishop to allow the veneration of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes in 1862, years before Bernadette's death.

Bernadette Soubirous and the apparitions of the Holy Virgin Mary

Bernadette Soubirous was proclaimed a saint by Pius XI on December 8, 1933.

Bernadette Soubirous, a poor and illiterate fourteen-year-old girl, claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary eighteen times in a grotto in the Place de Massabielle, west of Lourdes between February 11 and July 16, 1858 .

In the third apparition, the girl said she spoke with the Lady in Gascon, a dialect used in the region, who addressed her using the courtesy "vous" and asked her to come to the cave for 15 successive days and do what she asked. Bernadette promised that she would do so.

In turn, the Lady announced that she had not promised to make her happy in this world, but in the next. As the Lady's successive revelations unfold, the message becomes clearer and clearer.

Mary: The Immaculate Conception.

On February 25 , Bernadette testified, the Virgin told her to go and drink the water from the spring and to eat the plants that grew freely there. She interpreted that she should go and drink water from the nearby Gave River and that is where she headed. But the Lady taught her with her finger to dig the ground. Digging in the mud and trying to drink, Bernadette got her face dirty, and her gestures and appearance aroused skepticism from many of the 350 people present, because the spring did not immediately manifest itself.

However, shortly after, a spring of water emerged that to this day is the destination of pilgrimages for many Catholics and has witnessed many miracles. The spring that gushed forth on February 25, 1858, produces one hundred thousand liters of water per day, continuously from that date to the present day.

During the sixteenth apparition of Mary on March 25, 1858 , Bernadette repeatedly asked her to reveal her name. The Lady finally responded by saying: "I am the Immaculate Conception." The Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary had been solemnly proclaimed on December 8, 1854 , three years earlier. The expression was foreign to Bernadette's vocabulary and, in principle, it was a source of confusion, both for Father Peyramale himself, the parish priest of Lourdes, and for other ecclesiastical and civil authorities. However, during all the incisive questioning that was made of her, Bernadette Soubirous maintained a constant calm attitude without changing her story or her attitude, nor claiming to have knowledge beyond what was said about the visions described.

Ecclesiastical approval of Bernadette's vision.

The last interrogation before the ecclesiastical commission, presided over by the Bishop of Tarbes, Laurence, took place on December 1, 1860. The old bishop ended up being moved, when Bernadette repeated the gesture and the words that the Virgin made on March 25, 1858: "I am the Immaculate Conception." On January 18, 1862, he published the pastoral letter in which he declared that: "The Immaculate Mother of God has truly appeared to Bernadette." The same year, Pope Pius IX authorized the veneration of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes .

Since then, the various pontiffs have supported devotion and pilgrimage to the shrine in various ways. Pope Pius X extended the celebration of the memory to the entire Church. Pope Pius XI definitively ratified the celebration of Our Lady of Lourdes by beatifying Bernadette Soubirous on June 6, 1925, and canonizing her on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Year of the Redemption, on December 8, 1933. In 1937, Pius XI himself appointed Eugenio Pacelli as papal delegate to personally visit and venerate the Virgin at Lourdes . On September 8, 1953, in commemoration of the centenary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Pius XII decreed in his Encyclical Letter Fulgens Corona the celebration of a Marian Year (the first in the history of the Catholic Church) throughout the world, while describing the events of Lourdes in the following words:

"And it seems that the Holy Virgin had wanted to confirm in a prodigious manner the opinion that the Vicar of her divine Son on earth, with the applause of the whole Church, had pronounced. Well, four years had not yet passed when about a People of France, at the foot of the Pyrenees, the Holy Virgin, dressed in white , covered with a candid mantle and girded with her blue girdle at the waist, appeared with a young and affable aspect in the grotto of Massabielle to an innocent and simple girl, To which, insisting to know the name of the person who had deigned to appear, she, with a sweet smile and raising her eyes to heaven, replied: "I am the Immaculate Conception." They understood it well, of course, the faithful, who in almost innumerable crowds, coming from everywhere on pious pilgrimages to the grotto of Lourdes, revived their faith, stimulated their piety and made an effort to adjust their life to the precepts of Christ (...)"

Consequences of approval: devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes.

The authorities of the Catholic Church have explicitly expressed their devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes in various ways. On March 25, 1958, the centenary of the day the "Lady" appeared with the words "I am the Immaculate Conception," Cardinal Angelo G. Roncalli - the future Pope John XXIII, canonized in 2014 - consecrated the great underground Basilica of Saint Pius X. At the closing of the centenary of the apparitions of Lourdes , he expressed his devotion with these words: "The Church, through the voice of her popes, never ceases to recommend to Catholics to pay attention to the message of Lourdes."

The Catholic liturgical calendar celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes on the day of the first apparition, that is, on February 11. In 1992, Pope John Paul II instituted the celebration of the World Day of the Sick to be held on February 11 of each year, in liturgical memory of Our Lady of Lourdes.

In 1983 and 2004, John Paul II himself visited Lourdes, as did his successor Benedict XVI on September 15, 2008, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of 1858. Today, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is one of the main places of Catholic pilgrimage in the world. With a population of about 15,000 inhabitants.

Representation of Mary at Lourdes

Young, dressed in white with a blue ribbon at the waist, the basilica has her hands joined in an attitude of prayer. With a rosary hanging from her arm and a golden rose on each foot. A white veil covered her hair, a sign of patronage of the sick. The Catholic Church has always considered the Virgin Mary as a figure intimately close to all human suffering, from that moment described by the Gospel of John (19, 25-27):

"Now standing beside the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, 'Woman, there you have your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.' And from that hour the disciple welcomed him into his home."

Based on the events witnessed by Bernadette Soubirous, the Catholic Church has considered the Virgin Mary, in her invocation of Our Lady of Lourdes , the patron saint of the sick. It is important to note that the apparitions of Lourdes and the existence of facts "not scientifically explainable by natural laws" do not constitute articles of faith, the latter included in the Creed.

The Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes

Founded in 1885, L' Hospitalité Notre Dame de Lourdes, abbreviated HNDL, is a Roman Catholic religious brotherhood placed under the spiritual authority of the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, working in close collaboration with the Rector of the Sanctuaries of Lourdes. It works in Lourdes during the main pilgrimage season usually from Easter to November, and also manages the reception staff at the Piscines (Baths) during the winter.

Of the approximately 7,000 healings recorded since the apparitions, only 70 cases have been recognized by the Church as miracles in a century and a half. For a cure to be considered miraculous, a series of requirements must be met. In particular, the disease must be scientifically incurable; The total ineffectiveness of the drugs or protocols used in their treatment must be revealed; The healing must occur suddenly and not gradually; The healing must be absolute, with lasting effects, and not just remission; The healing must not be the result of an interpretation derived from the person's mental state.

HNDL staff organization.

Nearly 8 million visitors a year are welcomed by volunteers who work in the sanctuaries of Lourdes. Some of these volunteers work in the Forum Information Center welcoming individual pilgrims and small groups. Other volunteers work in the service of young people, or give their time and talent in one of the pavilion tents of the Estate.

However, the largest group of volunteers (16,000 of them) is known as the Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes. In the past, a "hospitality" was a charitable organization whose aim was to gather, welcome and feed the most destitute in a hostel or hospital. Today, the Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes (HNDL) builds on this tradition by welcoming pilgrims to Lourdes, especially but not only the sick and disabled, and by attending religious ceremonies. It is an organization of pilgrims at the service of other pilgrims and of Our Lady.

More than 100,000 come from the hospitality of different pilgrimages and regions of the world. 30 priests also pass by to receive and accompany the pilgrims, celebrate and administer the sacraments. They belong to four religious congregations and different dioceses. In addition, five female communities are also at the service of the sanctuary. It has 297 permanent and 95 temporary staff for the month of February (when the feast of the Virgin of Lourdes is celebrated) and more than 63 for various services.

Condition to be met to be part of the volunteers.

The HNDL encourages people to do an internship of at least 6 days. Those on stage are often called "interns" or more recently "hospital auxiliaries". The Stage is open to new assistants aged 18 to 75. Doing an internship requires dedication, a willingness to serve and a certain maturity of character (although this does not mean monotony). The internship offers immense satisfaction and opportunities to enjoy life in a group.

No special skills are required to be on stage (Intern), just a willingness to serve and a desire to enter into the "spirit of Lourdes". If you have specific restrictions that, for example, may not allow you to lift someone, that is not a problem, as there are many other things to do; just make sure your limitations are known.

It is also not necessary to speak French, although a basic knowledge of that or any other language is of course helpful. Any languages that a trainee feels comfortable speaking can be indicated on their badge by flags. The first flag on the badge usually corresponds to the individual's nationality with other badges indicating languages spoken with a certain level of fluency.

Training at HNDL.

During the first four years, trainees are required to attend “Formation” (a type of internship, formerly called school) twice a week. This provides both practical training and insight into the spirituality of Lourdes . Training courses are taught in English, when an English-speaking trainer is present. There are no exams and plenty of opportunities for interaction and discussion. Common topics of discussion include: our attitudes towards the sick; the symbolism of the grotto and its water ; a tour of the places where Bernadette lived; the history of the estate; Christian approaches to suffering; etc.

The first year is the reception. After that, the volunteers become "auxiliary hospitalier", for years 2, 3 and 4. After the reception year and three stages of training, Christians can apply in the 4th year to engage in the Hospitality itself. The following year 5, after approval by the Council, the volunteers receive the silver medal on blue ribbon. This is the sign that the volunteer has promised to commit to the service of the sick, in particular by coming regularly on stage. This medal is a dedication, not a decoration, and a sign that the volunteer is at the service of every person visiting Lourdes . It is not the end of the service, but the beginning of a commitment.

Once a volunteer has become a 'full' member of the HNDL , they are asked to pay an annual fee of €15 to help cover administrative costs and pay for the Hospitality Letter that members receive three times a year. The fee is a charity, so any tax can be reclaimed. The money earned is used to pay for things that benefit Lourdes Hospitality.

Many pilgrimages around the world have their own performing groups. American hospital groups are increasingly numerous with North American volunteers or with the Knights of Malta. Anyone wishing to become an intern to become a hospitalier must obtain a letter of introduction from their parish priest, or any hospitalier, and send it to HNDL Lourdes with a completed internship application form.

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Keep the faith by invoking the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus

Now you are an expert on the history of Our Lady of Lourdes . Through this article, you have been able to discover the key elements about the sanctuary. If you would like to know more about the stories of the Virgin Mary, we invite you to come and discover our article on Our Lady of La Garde.

The invocation of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Lourdes has been the object of great veneration, and her sanctuary is one of the most visited in the world. About 8 million people make pilgrimages there each year. The Catholic Church invokes Our Lady of Lourdes as the patron saint of the sick . At the sanctuary, more precisely at the Grotto, pilgrims pray to the Virgin Mary , ask for healing, find peace and comfort.