Church Celebrates 150th Anniversary of Lourdes Apparitions by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer (Feb. 11, 2008) Today the world celebrates one of the most famous mystical events in modern history - the apparitions of the Blessed Mother to a poor French schoolgirl named Bernadette Soubirous in a grotto near Lourdes, France. Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, proclaimed a Jubilee year to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the apparitions which took place in 1858. The Jubilee year beginning Dec. 8, 2007 and ending Dec. 8, 2008 will give Catholics who visit Lourdes an opportunity to receive a plenary indulgence (with the fulfillment of the normal requirements). The same indulgence can also be had by anyone visiting a shrine, public sanctuary of other worthy place dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes and taking part in devotions to Her between Feb. 2 and Feb. 11, 2008. Throughout the Jubilee year, the faithful are being asked to remember the messages Our Lady gave to St. Bernadette during 18 apparitions which took place between Feb. 11 and July 16, 1858 in the grotto of Massabielle on the outskirts of Lourdes. During these apparitions, Our Lady imparted messages calling the faithful to personal conversion and the prayer of the rosary as well as to the practice of penance and humility. Perhaps the most famous apparition, the sixteenth, which took place on March 25, 1858, was when Bernadette finally asked the Lady who she was. Mary responded, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Unknown to Bernadette at the time, this turned out to be a heavenly confirmation of the dogma that had been defined by Pope Pius IX four years earlier and convinced local clerics that the girl was telling the truth about the apparitions.3. Also during this apparition, while still in an ecstatic trance, Bernadette rose from her knees, walked a short distance, then fell to the ground and began frantically digging in the dirt until a small puddle appeared. Over the next few days, the puddle grew into the large pool which became the famous sacred spring that has made Lourdes the most visited shrine in Christendom. More than 200 million pilgrims are believed to have visited Lourdes since 1860 and 67 people are documented as having received a miraculous healing at the site. The last cure was pronounced as recently as 2005 when a 94 year old Italian woman was declared to have been healed of a lethal form of rheumatic heart disease during a 1952 visit to Lourdes. Four to six million people visit Lourdes annually, but those numbers are expected to swell to eight million during the Jubilee year. Because the next World Youth Day will take place in Sydney, Australia during this Jubilee year, various groups of young Christian artists will be performing in Lourdes in July, 2008. Pope Benedict XVI is also planning a trip to France this year.Another important event is taking place during this Jubilee celebration, the Eucharistic Congress at Quebec City in Canada. Pope Benedict XVI drew attention to this fact in his message for the World Day of the Sick which is celebrated on Feb. 11 each year. In his message, he reminded the faithful of the link between Our Lady of Lourdes and the Eucharistic processions and healing services which have always been a beloved part of the devotions at Lourdes. “ . . . The cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary is joined to a strong and constant reference to the Eucharist with daily Celebrations of the Eucharist, with adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament, and with the blessing of the sick, which constitutes one of the strongest moments of the visit of pilgrims to the grotto of Massabielles,” the Pope said. This special year of a Jubilee and a Eucharistic Congress gives us “a remarkable opportunity to consider the close connection that exists between the Mystery of the Eucharist, the role of Mary in the project of salvation, and the reality of human pain and suffering.” After entrusting all to Mary, the Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception, he concluded with a prayer: “May she help everyone in testifying that the only valid response to human pain and suffering is Christ, who in resurrecting defeated death and gave us the life that knows no end.” © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly/Women of Grace. http://www.womenofgrace.com Rediscover the Rosary with this 2CD set “My Soul Magnifies the Lord: A Rosary Meditation” available in our store at www.womenofgrace.com/catalog