Lourdes,

(2 photos)
In 1858, a fourteen-year-old girl, now known as Bernadette, saw the Virgin Mary at the grotto, and at her direction Bernadette uncovered a spring. Millions of people visit here each year, and miraculous cures are attributed to the waters of this spring.

The famous “la Grotte des Apparitions” is a small shallow cave with a statue of the Virgin Mary, and with crutches hanging from its roof near the entrance. Near the grotto, water is available from twenty water taps for tourists to drink, and to fill bottles to take home. Tubs are available in the gray marble bathhouse where the pilgrims may bathe in water from the spring. (We remember “holy water” available near Virgin Mary’s “last home” on the mountain near Selçuk, above the ruin of the city of Ephesus in Turkey. Our Moslem taxi driver attributed the miraculous cure of his war wound to those waters.)
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The large two-level basilica is built into the base of a hill, with gardens and footpaths on the hillside above. We understood that each level is considered a basilica, and masses were scheduled in both throughout the day. Hundreds of wheelchairs and stretcher-carts are parked in sheds next to the hospital near the basilica. They are used by the unbelievable number of sick and disabled, who come to Lourdes for healing.