The Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes sanctuary is one of the most important sites for Christians. According to the Catholic Church, the Virgin Mary appeared there several times in 1858. Only one person saw her: Bernadette Soubirous, a poor teenage girl, whom adults did not believe at first. It took several years before the Church changed her mind and made Bernadette a saint. Since then, millions of pilgrims have come to the foot of the Pyrenees every year. Every August 15, it notably hosts the French national pilgrimage, on the occasion of the Assumption. The three main places of pilgrimage for Catholics in the Middle Ages were Jerusalem and the Holy Land (Israel and the West Bank) Rome (Italy and Vatican) and Lourdes (France). Discover the authentic pilgrimage in Lourdes.
No visit to Lourdes would be complete without a visit to the site that kickstarted religious tourism in the town. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, also known as the grotto, is the site at which the young Miss Soubirous experienced the first of her 18 visions of the Virgin Mary. During her ninth encounter with the holy apparition, Soubirous was supposedly instructed to wash in the grotto and today visitors wait in line for the opportunity to take a dip in its freezing waters.
Access to the area of the sanctuaries is open all year round. You can go to meditate near the cave of Massabielle and place a candle. At each entrance to the sanctuaries there is a list listing the masses given and the language in which the prayer is performed. There are, on average, nearly 70 masses a day in one of the 40 places of worship in the sanctuaries of Lourdes. International masses are celebrated every Wednesday and Sunday at 9 a.m., from April to October. The underground basilica of St Pius X will then be filled with nearly 25,000 faithful from all over the world!
The organization of “pilgrim for a day” outings is offered to you by the sanctuaries of Lourdes. A priest welcomes you in the morning, around 8 am, next to the crowned virgin. You will take a guided tour of the shrines. You can go to confession, go to the swimming pools or do the Stations of the Cross. The sanctuaries provide you with an audio guide for 5 euros. He will accompany you on your visit but also in the city in the footsteps of Sainte Bernadette. For more information on the “Pilgrim for a day” program or on the audio guides, go to the reception of the sanctuaries, Porte Saint Joseph.
Today, Lourdes welcomes 6 million pilgrims and 100,000 sick each year. Enough to make this small town in the Pyrenees the third place of Catholic pilgrimage in the world behind the Vatican and Guadalupe in Mexico.
If you need more information about Lourdes and how to include the visit of the Sanctuary in your trip to France, please, feel free to contact us.
