A place of pilgrimage for millions of devout Christians each year, where visions of the Virgin Mary were seen by a local girl in the mid-19th century. Lourdes, of Roman origin, is situated in southern France, at the foot of the Pyrenees. On the right bank of the River Gave, which flows through Lourdes, stands a medieval castle, a state prison from Louis XIV\u2019s reign until the beginning of the 19th century. Lourdes has two main areas: above lies the old fortified city with its castle, residential, and commercial area; below lies Massabielle with its grotto, sanctuary, chaplains\u2019 residences, hotels, and shops.<\/p>\n
In 1858, Bernadette Soubirous a 14-year-old peasant girl claimed to have received visions of the Virgin Mary in the grotto of Massabielle. Since her father\u2019s milling business had failed when the millstream ran dry, the family of six lived in impoverished conditions in a one-room hovel. Bernadette suffered from asthma, was ill-nourished, illiterate, and spoke only the local dialect, akin to Basque. Though not unintelligent, she was constantly chided by her teachers for ignorance of her religion.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A place of pilgrimage for millions of devout Christians each year, where visions of the Virgin Mary were seen by a local girl in the mid-19th century. Lourdes, of Roman origin, is situated in southern France, at the foot of the Pyrenees. On the right bank of the River Gave, which flows through Lourdes, stands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-l"],"yoast_head":"\n