Lourdes Miracles
At Astonishing Legends, we try not to delve too deeply into religion, politics, etc. That being said, we have dived into miracles before, essentially the non-religious type. But when folks ask for blogstonishing topics, we try to deliver them. One of the topics that came across our desk this year was the miracles of Lourdes, which we’ll be taking a quick look into today. As a note, we’ll only explore claims and folklore and will not have a religious focus.
For over 150 years, a small town in France has seen millions of visitors. Over 3 million folks pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes every year. One of the biggest reasons is the medical miracles and breakthroughs that claim to have taken place here.
They even have their own scientific offices meant to explore the proposed miracle. Decade-long investigations are conducted into the claims of cures and miracle breakthroughs. These researchers determine which recoveries make medical sense or have a reasonable explanation and which are truly miraculous. And they are picky. There have been over 7,000 claims of Lourdes curing folks but less than 100 confirmed miracles.
But how did it get such a reputation? We'll have to go back to the 1800s when then-14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous began having visions. Bernadette was the daughter of a miller from Lourdes. Her visions started when she was 14 when she had visions of a young woman coming to her and begging that a chapel be built in a local grotto. She had visions for a fortnight, during which rumors swirled, and her parents grew nervous. However, it was believed that her visions had holy grounds and were confirmed accurate by the church. It was thought that the young woman in Bernadette’s visions was the Virgin Mary. And, if you believe any of this at all…it is said that Bernadette’s body remains uncorrupted, which is the sign of a saint according to the Catholic Church.
Since the vision, so many people have tried the calming waters and have hoped for a miracle of their own, even though only 1% of folks had an unexplainable recovery, many folks hope to be part of that 1%.
Thanks to Rloff for the blogstonishing suggestion!
The header image depicts Jean-Louis Forain, Lourdes, the Miracle (second plate), 1912-1913.This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.