[Throwback] Lourdes, France

Lourdes is a town in the South of France. It is an important pilgrimage site for Catholics all over the world because of the Marian apparitions there in 1858. To make our Europe trip an even more spiritual experience after our Christmas celebration at the Vatican, we wanted to visit Lourdes.

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

In 1858, while gathering firewood with her sister and a friend at the Massabielle grotto, Bernadette Soubirous saw the image of a young lady who was believed to the the Virgin Mary. This became the first of 18 Marian apparitions that were witnessed in this area. The young lady shared the need for prayer and penance and asked that a chapel be built. The Catholic church investigated these claims and deemed the apparitions to be worth of belief. Bernadette was canonized as a saint by Pope Pius XI on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 in 1933.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes was then built in that area because it is what the Virgin Mary had requested.

Dome ceiling of the Rosary Basilica

One of the most important places in the sanctuary is of course the Grotto of Massabielle. There is a spring at the grotto where visitors can take and drink water. What I very distinctly remember when I was at the grotto was how holy the atmosphere there was. It was very quiet and peaceful and it felt like everyone was praying. It was a truly spiritual and transcendent experience.

Massabielle Grotto

What makes Sanctuary of our Lady of Lourdes even more special is that it is located in the Pyrenees. The Gave de Pau river flows through here and the beautiful landscape surrounding it adds to the mysticism, making any visit even more extraordinary and memorable.

Gave de Pau River

This was the last stop of our Europe trip. We spent a day in Lourdes and in the evening, we had dinner at a cafe near the train station before getting on our overnight train back to Paris. From there, we took the speed train from Paris back to Brussels. My mom still spent a couple of days in Belgium and she even took a day trip to Amsterdam (I didn't accompany her because I had to work) before she headed back to the Philippines.

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