France is located in Western Europe and is a metropolitan territory. This country attracts many religious pilgrims to Lourdes, which is a town situated in Hautes-Pyrenees department. This town hosts million of tourists per year.
Pilgrimage place- Lourdes
Lourdes is located in southwest of Hautes-Pyrenees department. It’s a town which lies in the first Pyrenean foothills and was originally a big market town. At that era, one of the main attractive things about Lourdes was the fortified castle which can be seen rising up from the centre of the town. It is on a rocky escarpment.
Due to the claims that there were visions of Our Lady of Lourdes to a place named Bernadette Soubirous in the year 1858, this place became a Christian pilgrimage. At present, Lourdes has over 5,000,000 pilgrims each season.
Our Lady of Lourdes
There was vision of a beautiful lady who visited a fourteen year old local girl in 11th February 1858. The lady appeared before her in the remote Massabielle Grotto. This lady acknowledged herself to be the Immaculate Conception. It was believed that she was the Blessed Virgin Mary. This lady appeared for eighteen times and by 1859, there were thousands of pilgrims who came to visit Lourdes in France. So, in 1864, Our Lady of Lourdes was actually erected at this site.
Specific changes
Since the vision, Lourdes has been a leading Catholic Marian shrines and a lot of visitors come here per year. It has become an important place amidst the Roman Catholic Church which has been visited twice by the Pope John Paul II.
Sanctuary of Lourdes
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is a place of mass pilgrimage who frequent from Europe and from all parts of the world. There is also spring water from the grotto which is believed to possess some healing properties. There are also some skeptics of the miracles which have been reported to have occurred in Lourdes. There is also a misconception which is that the miracles are the Sanctuary of Lourdes core. This is the sole reason for visits to this place. Even if this is the case for some of the visitors, the best part of the pilgrims is their Christian faith and their view of helping others who are in need of help.
Roman Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church is recognized for its 67 healing miracles. Some of the impressive miracles are the sacrament and candlelight procession. The Sanctuary is visited by tours from all parts of the world. One can also visit the Lourdes water which wells out in Grotto. One can consume the water or even bathe in it for healing purpose.
Hospitalite Notre Dame de Lourdes
It is believed that at first the pilgrims who came to visit such holy places in France were cared by the local charitable workers and the nuns. However, as the number of pilgrims grew got to grow, Hospitalite Notre Dame de Lourdes came into its existence. This was set with the aim to provide charitable aid to the sick pilgrims. This hospitalite was built in 1885 and has been the ministry of welcome since then. It receives and cares all pilgrims who come from faraway places to visit this holy place.
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