Lourdes: historical reminder

On 11th February 1858, happened the event that changed Lourdes’ future. On that day, a little girl fourteen years old from one of the poorest families in the town, whose plight was worsened by her father’s being out of work – Bernadette SOUBIROUS, her sister and a friend, went looking for firewood on the banks of the river Gave.

Above an opened grotto, Bernadette saw a “lady” in white; she would appear to her 18 times between February 11th and July 16th.

On February 24th she told Bernadette: “Go and tell the priests to have people come here in a procession and to have a chapel built here…”

Finally, on March 25th, when she appeared for the 16th time, the lady revealed her name saying: “I am the Immaculate Conception”.

With each apparition, the number of witnesses grew wide, first dozens then hundreds.

On January 18th 1862, Monseigneur Lawrence, bishop of Tarbes, signed a pastoral letter for the Church: “Virgin Mary really appeared to Bernadette Soubirous”. That was the true foundation charter of the pilgrimage.