OUR LADY OF LOURDES
Jesus’ mother Mary, often referred to as Our Lady by Catholics, is believed to have appeared to a thirteen year old girl called Bernadette Soubirous. The apparitions occurred in 1858, in a town called Lourdes in France.
The main request of Our Lady was to ask for people to pray and do penance for sinners.
Thousands of people have claimed to receive miraculous healing through Lourdes. Over seventy of these cases of healing have been vigorously investigated and recognised as miracles to date.
1987
Jean-Pierre Bely
Father of two, and a nurse, Jean-Pierre Bely was suffering from a severe form of multiple sclerosis. By 1987 he was bedridden.
That October, he was taken to Lourdes on Pilgrimage. He participated in the Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation and received the Sacrament of the Sick during Holy Mass. All of sudden, he was overcome by a sense of interior liberation and peace.
The next day he was able to move his arms. The following night he suddenly woke up and discovered that he could walk.
Multiple examinations took place over the following years. It was confirmed that no medical science could explain the cure.
In 1999, his healing was declared a miracle.
1949
Evasio Ganora
Evasio Ganora, a thirty-eight year old farmer from Italy, was found in 1949 to have Hodgkin’s Disease.
At the time, there was no cure though drugs and radiotherapy were tried.
He was so ill that he could only make the journey to Lourdes by stretcher. As soon as he took a bath in the Lourdes water he felt cured.
In 1955 his cure was formally declared a miracle.
2002
Serge Francois
Serge Francois, 56, had lost almost all mobility in his left leg following complications from two operations.
He visited Lourdes on 13 April 2002. After praying at the grotto, Serge drank some of the water from the miraculous spring and washed his face. His leg was healed.
In 2011, following careful investigation, his healing was declared a miracle.
2009
Antonia Raco
A sixty-seven year old Italian woman called Antonia Raco, was diagnosed in 2006 with a progressive and fatal condition known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ALS).
In 2009 she visited Lourdes in a wheelchair and struggled with breathing and swallowing. She felt a sharp pain in her legs when she was immersed in the waters at Lourdes.
There is no known cure for ALS. After lengthy investigation, the cure was declared a miracle in 2025.
1954
Marie Bigot
Marie Bigot was often ill as a child. In 1951 she was diagnosed with arachnoiditis of the posterior fossa, with adhesions. She was hemiplegic, deaf in her right ear and had very poor vision.
She visited Lourdes in 1952 but despite her hopes, there was no improvement. She visited Lourdes again in October 1953 and recovered her ability to walk.
She visited for a third time in 1954, and recovered her hearing and vision.
Her cures were officially declared as miracles on 15.8.1956.
1963
Vittorio Micheli
Vittorio Micheli, a solider from Italy was diagnosed with a malignant tumour which led to the destruction of his hip joint.
He bathed in the Lourdes water in 1963 and felt in better shape. He had X-rays taken at the Military Hospital in Trento.
His hip had been fully reconstructed snd it was impossible to give any medical explanation for the cure.
Following considerable investigation, the healing was declared a miracle in 1976.
Bernadette Soubirous (the girl who had the visions of Our Lady) became a nun and died aged 34. She was buried on the convent grounds in Nevers, France.
Thirty years later on 22 September, 1909, her body was exhumed in the presence of two doctors and several appointed officials. There was no odour when her coffin was opened and her body remained untouched by the natural laws of nature.
The body was exhumed again in 1919 (forty years after her death) and was found to be in the same condition.
In the Bible (Luke 1:28), God’s angel refers to Jesus’ mother as
“Hail Kecharitomene”, rather than calling her simply Mary.
Kecharitomene (from the Greek verb charitoo), is commonly translated as ‘full of grace ‘ or ‘graced one’.