Happy Anniversary Lourdes!
Yesterday 70,000 pilgrims celebrated the 150th anniversary of the visions and healings at Lourdes. My mother and I went to Lourdes in 2003 with the Knights of Malta and I gotta tell you, it wasn’t one of my favorite trips. Not only did I get sick and end up in a French hospital for five days, but it was cold and rainy there and I was stuck in this voiture, pictured here, during most of the time we spent away from the hotel. Lourdes is one of my favorite apparitions, but I’m not really into the whole Lourdes/cures thing nor have I ever been concerned with “being cured” myself. What fascinates me more is the entire story of Bernadette and the apparitions. How such an adolescent, illiterate on matters of faith and education, could retain such deep spiritual insights from Our Lady and have the courage to insist on the validity of her claims in the face of strict opposition from her superiors – pressure that didn’t cease behind the convent doors.
Interesting fact: Song of Bernadette was written by a Jewish author who escaped the Nazis by fleeing to Lourdes. There he was so impressed by the happenings there and thankful for his own escape from death, he promised God he would tell the world the story of Lourdes. I never knew that.
The Song of Bernadette
Song of Bernadette, book
Bernadette
The Passion of Bernadette
Bernadette Speaks