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One hundred years ago.
Bernadette |
It
All started at Lourdes, on February 11, 1858, the date of the first of the 18 appearances which the Lady made to Bernadette Soubirous, a little girl 14 years of age. She was the eldest daughter of one of the poorest families of the town, whose plight was worsened by her father being out of work. She had come with two companions in search of firewood because at home there was no more. Having arrived in front of the rock of Masabielle, where the canal of the Mill of Savy joined the Gave river, she was taking off her shoes when she saw in the Grotto, a Lady in white, her hands joined, a rosary hanging from her arm. The Lady smiled at her and beckoned her to approach... On February 18 the Apparition asked the child in the Bigourdan dialiect "if she would please come during fifteen days", then day after day she revealed to her a message which she was to transmit : "Pray for conversion of sinners"... "Penitence, penitence, penitence !" (February 24)... "Go tell the priests to have people come here in a procession and to have a chapel built here". (March 2).On February 25 the mysterious Lady of the grotto made a spring well up under Bernadette and told her to go an drink from it and wash herself in it... Finally on March 25, she revealed her name saying : "I am the Immaculate Conception".
An Authantic message.
Soon afterwards, from Lourdes and the vicinity, people ran to the Grotto to be present at Bernadette's ecxtasies, and later, after the apparitions, to pray there. Some, ill, became well after having washed themselves with water from the spring or after having drunk from it. Some, unbelievers, were converted. From the Grotto beamed the message of Mgr Lawrence, bishop of Tarbes, signed on January 18. 1862, a pastoral letter which is the true foundation charter of pilgrimage.
The minute inquiry which he had ordered and which had lasted four years, had brought to evidence not only Bernadette's good faith and sincerity, but also the authennticity of her mission. This inquiry had equally manifested the unquestionable supernatural character of at least seven of the faithful to "believe as certain" the apparitions and announce the forthcoming construction of the chapel requested by the Virgin Mary. Since then, "all the Popes, for more than a century, have recommended that Catholics (as Pope John XXII recalled on February 11, 1959) follow attentively the Message of Lourdes".
The answer to Mary's appeal.
At once, crowds answered this appeal. From the simple visits of the patients of the neighbouring spas, from the first processions of nearby parishes, at the time of the apparitions, to today's great international gatherings, this pilgrimage movement has not ceased to increase. On March 4, 1858 on could already count from 7,000 to 8,000 people. For the inauguration of the statue of the Grotto on April 4, 1864, there were 20,000 pilgrims. On May 21, 1866, the first mass was celebrated at the Grotto before 40,000 people ; the famous "Pilgrimage of Banners" of October 1872 assembled 50,000 participants. These numbers are small compared to those reached today on the occasion of the great gatherings of Lourdes : the pilgrimage of the prisoners and the deported of 1945, the celebrations of October 15, the pilgrimages of the Rosary, etc... The annual number of pilgrims or visitors to the sanctuaries has surpassed the regular toll of 2 million since 1960 and that of 3 million in 1965. It approached that of 5 million in 1958 for the centennial of the apparitions.
The domain of the Grotto.
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Basilica
Across the River Gave |
In the course of their history the sanctuaries of Lourdes have not ceased to adapt themselves to welcome the pilgrims in the best possible way. To the humble Crypt of the beginnings, which saw Bernadette before her departure for Nevers, has been added the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, completed in 1872, followed by the Basilica of the Rosary (1889) framed by its ramps ; the Basilica of St Pius X, solemnly consecrated by Cardinal Roncalli who was later to become Pope John XXIII.
The Domain of the Grotto offers yet a great number of other possibilities to the pilgrims : numerous conference rooms, a permanent cinema hall (Cinema Bernadette), a diorama of the life of St Bernadette, several exposition halls in the Missionnary Pavilion and in the Notre-Dame Pavilion (the Message of Lourdes and the souvenirs of Bernadette, the Gemmail Expositions : the meaning of the Sacred, temporary exposition halls).
The Miracles.
Do miracles still occur in Lourdes ? This question is constantly posed today. In the public consciousness, Lourdes in as much the "city of miracles" as the "capital of prayer", and this corresponds with a tangible reality. Since its origins. Lourdes has been able to count at least 5.000 cases of reproted healings. From this number only 65 have been declared miraculous by the ecclesiastic authorities after increasingly minute and long procedures. Such a sign was undoubtedly necessary to the growth of the pilgrimage. It still exists since each year registers a certain number of declarations made by formerly sick people who show testimony of their recovery. The "Bureau Médical de Notre Dame de Lourdes" (formerly the "Bureau de Constatations") has been given the task of proceeding with all the necessary examinations. It receives each year more than 2,000 doctors of all nationalities, upon whose demand, whatever their beliefs, the office gives free access to all their records. Its works are supervised by an international Medical Committee.
The Castle and the Pyrenean Museum.
From its rocky perch, the castle overlooks, on the west, the valley of the Gave river and the sanctuaries, and on the east, the upper town, greatly transformed since the last century.
Did the Romans really install themselves on this rampart to built here a fortified town ? This is Froissart's opinion, in itself acceptable. The discovery in the enclosure of the castle, in 1844, of a marble head on which seemed to be posed a sort of Phrygian cap, such as one sees on the ancient representations of the god Mithra, has made some prehistorians think that this rock served as a place of worship rather than of defence.
The castle first comes into legend while, under the hands of the Moors, it was supposedly besieged by Charlemagne in 778. Afterwards it appears in History in 1085 ; it is then the resident home of the counts of Bigorre and will remain so until the end of the XII th century. After the treaty of Bretigy, it passes under English hands who entrust its command to Pierre Arnaud and Jean de Bearn, the heads of a company of mercenaries, the Companions of Lourdes.
A first class military post, the building suffers numerous sieges until the end of the wars of religion ; captured and recaptured by Huguenots and Catholics it is restored in 1580 by order of the King of Navarre, the future Henri IV who, in 1605, joins the county of Bigorre to the crown.
During its role as a fortress, the castele becomes the State prison from the end of the XVII century to the time of Napoléon I. The restauration installs there the Military engineers who, from 1828 to 1856, undertake the transformation of the fortifications and of the buildings.
Removed from the rank of stronghold in 1889, the castle in bought in 1894 by the municipality of Lourdes. In 1920 the town decides to allocate it to a Museum and entrusts the Touring-Club of France with its creation and its administration. Thus is created the Pyrenean Museum whose intent is to present a synthesis of the popular arts and traditions of the Pyrénées. The old castle chapel contains the XVIII century altars and the ornements taken from the old parish church of Lourdes.
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