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Prayer
to Our Lady of Lourdes |
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O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother
of mercy,
health of the sick, refuge of sinners,
comforter of the afflicted,
you know my wants, my trouble,
my sufferings;
look with mercy on me.
By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes,
you were pleased to make it a
privileged sanctuary,
whence you dispense your favors;
and already many sufferers have
obtain the cure of their infirmities,
obtain spiritual and corporal.
I come, therefore, with complete confidence to implore your maternal intercession.
Obtain, O loving Mother, grant of my requests.
Through gratitude for your favors,
I will endeavor to imitate you virtues,
that I may one day share your glory. Amen.
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Our Lady of Lourdes is one of the titles
which Our Blessed Mother is honored.
In 1858 in the grotto of Massabielle, near Lourdes in Southern France, apparitions took
place. The Blessed Mother appeared eighteen times to a poor fourteen year old girl,
Saint Bernadette Soubirous.
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On February 25, 1858...
The Blessed Virgin Mother appeared to Saint Bernadette, and told the little girl to drink the water
and wash in the spring which started to immediately gush forth after Saint Bernadette scratch the dry
earth.
St. Bernadette Soubirous |
On March 25, 1858:
Blessed Mother appeared and revealed
her identity to Saint Bernadette,
"I am the Immaculate Conception."
The Blessed Mother asked that a chapel be built at
the grotto. |
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After four years of intense
examination the local bishop declared the legitimacy of the apparitions in 1862. In that
same year [1862]:
- A chapel in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mother
was built.
- A feast day was instituted on February 11 for
the Blessed Mother.
This represents the date the of the first apparition that took place on February 11, 1858.
- Blessed Virgin Mother was given the title Our
Lady of Lourdes.
In 1870 the Church of Notre Dame was raised
to the rank of a minor basilica.
The water from the still-flowing spring has
proved effective in healing. Miraculous cures at Lourdes from the water. Three
great Churches rise above the grotto, and the grotto itself is holy place where Mass is said.
Every year millions of people visit the site to knee at the grotto and pray. The water
still flows and is bottled from Lourdes, France and sent to many countries around the world
and in the United States.
St. Bernadette Soubirous
waited until after the last apparition, Our Lady of Lourdes had made to her. St.
Bernadette went into the convent,
and became a nun. St. Bernadette Soubirous Feast Day is on April 16th. |
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February 11th: Our Lady of Lourdes, Feast Day
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