What are some facts about Lourdes for kids?

At Lourdes in 1858 in a grotto beside the Gave de Pau, a teenage girl, Bernadette Soubirous, saw visions of the Virgin Mary. She also found a spring said to have healing powers. Today Roman Catholics from all over the world visit the shrine at Lourdes.



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Since 1858, when a 14-year-old peasant named Bernadette Soubirous proclaimed she had had 18 encounters with the Virgin Mary, Lourdes has become one of the most visited sites by Catholics in the world. Lourdes has a special appeal for the fragile and the weak, including wounded military personnel.

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It is this very water that fills the Baths or Piscines in which pilgrims bathe on pilgrimage. This water is also available at taps throughout the Sanctuary for pilgrims to drink, wash, and bottle at will, above which it reads: “Wash your face and ask God to purify your heart.”

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Every year, 6 million pilgrims descend upon the town of Lourdes. Explore how the town's history and developments in the Catholic Church made it so popular. Lourdes Eucharistic Procession.

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St. Bernadette of Lourdes was a French nun who lived in the 1800s. As a young teenager, she had a series of visions of the Virgin Mary in the Massabielle grotto, ultimately leading to the founding of the shrine of Lourdes.

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Many miracles have been attributed to bathing in or drinking the water at Lourdes as well as to participating in the Eucharistic Procession and Adoration. Pilgrims may experience healing in body, mind or spirit and leave with a deeper sense of God's presence and love in their lives.

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