LOURDES: Pilgrimage to a sacred place

Jan 19 2008 by Kevin Pilley, Liverpool Daily Post

Bernadette described her apparition as "uno petito damizelo" (a young girl). At first she mistook it for a demonic apparition thinking it a "revenant" or soul returning from purgatory.

The apparition did not speak until the third appearance and in Occitan, the local patois.

It is suggested she used a lighted candle for protection, thus the torchlight procession.

The small figure in the flowing white robe with roses on her feet told Bernadette to build chapels and kiss the ground as penance.

On her ninth visitation she showed the shepherd girl a miraculous spring.

There have been many Marian apparitions around the world, notably at Walsingham in Norfolk (1061), although this is not recognised by the Holy See, as with the visitation to an Indian milkman in Vailankanni in 1600. Others include La Vang in Vietnam (1798), Paris (1830), Pontmain in France (1871), Knock in Ireland (1879), Fatima in Portugal (1917), Beauraing in Belgium (1932), Girgenti in Malta (1940) and Zeitoun in Egypt, witnessed by thousands for three years from 1968.

There was even a sighting in Surbiton, Surrey in 1985.

Other popular pilgrimage sites include the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania, Czestochowa and Trzebnice in Poland, as well as Saint Jacques of Compostelle in Spain. And of course, Rome, Jerusalem and Canterbury.

Mexican Farmer Juan Diego's vision in 1531 created the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadaloupe, one of the most visited Catholic churches in the Americas.

Lourdes doesn't have a local monopoly on supernatural events. In Betharram, near Lourdes, some shepherds saw a vision of a ray of light which guided them to a statue of the Virgin Mary.

In the early 16th century, a 12-year-old shepherdess named Angleze de Sagazan claimed to see a vision near a spring at Garaison.

Her story is strikingly similar to that of Bernadette.

She was pious but illiterate, but successfully convinced authorities that her vision was genuine.

There are also several similarities between the apparition at La Salette near Grenade, predating Lourdes by 11 years.

Bernadette's apparitions were not recognised until 1862. The statue of Notre Dame de Lourdes was installed in the Massabeille (meaning old rock) grotto two years later. Bernadette died in Nevers convent in 1879 and was canonised in 1933. Exhumed three times, her body was found to be "incorrupt".

There have been over 7,000 "cures" claimed by visitors to Lourdes, but only 68 are recognised by the Lourdes Medical Bureau - a group of theologians and doctors charged with investigating claims since 1905.

One famous case is that of Liverpudlian John Traynor, who was paralysed fighting in the Dardenelles but walked again after visiting Lourdes to take the waters.

The last recorded miracle, involving Italian Anna Santianello in 1952, was only deemed "inexplicable" in 2005.

Thousands continued to process towards the cave.

Three boy scouts carried a giant candle.

A voice intoned "Salve Regina, mater misericordiae: vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve".

Then, as the processions of pilgrims moved another few yards, another voice whispered: "O Mary, our mother, we come to this place where you who are sinless appeared full of grace."

A teenage boy helping a disabled girl looked around.

"You learn a lot from coming to Lourdes," he said.

"One hundred countries are represented here every day. It's a transfiguring place. You can't help be moved and touched. Whatever your beliefs, you feel belief."

* KEVIN PILLEY was a guest of the French Government Tourist Office, which offers further information to visitors at www.franceguide.com. For events in Lourdes in 2008, see www.lourdes2008.com.

He flew easyJet, which flies into Toulouse from Bristol and Gatwick from £24.99 one-way (incl taxes), returns from £46.04. Bookings on www.easyJet.com

He stayed at the four-star luxe Grand Hotel de la Grotte at 66 Rue de la Grotte, 65100 Lourdes. Reservations and rates: 00 33 562 945 887 or www.hotel-grotte.com.

UK operators of short breaks to the Lourdes area include VFB Holidays, which offers two-night half-board breaks at a three-star hotel within a dozen miles of Lourdes, incl flights and car hire, from £202 per person. Reservations: 01452 716842.

For pilgrimages, UK operators include Tangney Tours on 0800 917 3572 or at www.tangney-tours.com