Day #23 - Lourdes, France

Grotto

Healing water

Grotto - see the procession of people walking through in the back

Stage for "Procession of Lights" ceremony

My best night shot

Tuesday, April 6th

Lourdes, France - many of you may be asking why he's spending time here. To be honest, until about 2 months ago, I really didn't know much about this town either. My mom was looking through some of the materials for my trip and she said: "Oh, looks like you'll be going to Our Lady of the Lourdes." I said: "I am?" Maybe it doesn't say much for me, but perhaps I vaguely heard of this, but not so much. She explained the story and it was actually one of the items in my "1,000 Things Book"

After this conversation, I learned of a special connection between this place and my little niece. So, this brings me to today. Let me tell you - this IS a 'special place'. I arrived by train from Bordeaux at about 1pm. I checked in to St. Etienne Hotel - but this was really a hostel (very nice and 100 yards from main tourist sites). I dumped my bag, which is becoming a bit of a nuisance. If I keep hauling this baby around for the next 9 months - I'm going to be a machine.

Lourdes - this is the spot where, in 1858, a local teenage girl named Bernadette had eighteen visions of the Virgin Mary in a riverside grotto. This is France's most visited city after Paris (that's a strong statement). During the visits by the Virgin Mary (never seen by anyone besides Bernadette), a spring welled up in the grotto and has been running ever since. Of some 2,500 "unexplained" healings," the church has officially recognized sixty-five miracles since Bernadette's death in 1879 (she was cannonized in 1933); about 30 such healings occur each year.

I spent the afternoon walking around the sanctuary and the grounds. Very, very moving. I couldn't believe the number of people. Very respectful atmosphere. Quiet, calm. If there were ever a place to come and meditate or pray, this is the spot. Lourdes is located at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains. A small stream rolls through the area running by the grotto. The day was perfect, 60 degrees, sunny. I wore a T-shirt for the first day on the trip.

At the site of the grotto itself, interesting. There was a processional line through the area. People touched the rocks (which had liquid on them), people got on their knees and prayed, people had paper that they pressed against the rock (maybe in hopes of seeing the Virgin Mary). There was constant prayer everywhere. My book says that over 140 countries are represented by tourists.

There's a big church where people go, they had the stations of the cross where people were gathered, and there was the area to gather water (believed to give miraculous healing powers). Now, I'm up for good karma. So, I had 5 Liters of this water sent back home. Because of regulations with shipping liquids, I was not able to collect the water myself (nor was I able to provide the containers), but they will be sending back to Bloomsdale - please keep some for me. People were drinking the water and rubbing on themselves. This was actually kind of sad in some respects. I saw many, many people on wheelchairs and all states of ill today. I did take some of this water and put in a bottle that I plan to keep with me for the rest of the trip. I couldn't drink it however - not sure - just couldn't.

After roaming around the afternoon, I went into the little town. I had some lunch and toured. There was a pretty strong language barrier. I don't really recall seeing any Americans. many Irish folk, but predominantly French for sure. Later that night, I went back to the sancturay area. This was probably the coolest part of the day. At night, everyone in the town comes back. There were thousands of people. Everyone carried a torch and participated in the ceremony of lights. All of these people walked the grouds with their torches, while there was prayer and ceremony going on up at the stage. They did some in English so I could understand a part of the process. This was a truly amazing site. I tried to catch some photos - but they were not coming out so great at night. I was there about 8pm. It got started around 9pm and was still going strong after 10:30pm. I called it a night and went back to the hotel after a very spritually fulfilling day.