The Miracles of Our Lady of Lourdes from Her First Apparition

The Church has recognised seventy of the seven thousand healings that occurred in the town of Lourdes as miracles of Our Lady. What makes the water of Lourdes so special?

Among Marian apparitions and miracles linked to the Virgin Mary, those of Lourdes are among the most famous and well-remembered. The reasons for this fame lie in the particularly tender relationship that developed between the Virgin and Bernadette Soubirous, the fourteen-year-old peasant girl who reported meeting the “beautiful Lady” no fewer than eighteen times. It is to Bernadette that we owe the description of what has become today’s most widespread iconography of the Virgin Mary: dressed in white with a blue sash. Thanks to these apparitions and the miracles of Our Lady of Lourdes, this small Occitan town in the heart of the Pyrenees has become one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the world.

But what exactly happened in the grotto near Massabielle, and how has the Church addressed the miracles of Lourdes?

The apparitions of Lourdes were formally recognised as authentic by the Catholic Church as early as 1862, following a long and thorough examination of Bernadette’s accounts. This is what the Bishop of Tarbes wrote in the pastoral letter concluding the investigation:

“We judge that Mary Immaculate, Mother of God, truly appeared to Bernadette Soubirous on 11 February 1858 and on subsequent days…; that this apparition possesses all the marks of truth, and that the faithful may believe it to be certain.”

In 2018, seventy of the seven thousand healings of sick pilgrims visiting Lourdes were officially declared miraculous. The most recent recognition occurred in 2018 and concerns Sister Bernadette Moriau, who had been confined to a wheelchair for 42 years due to a severe spinal nerve condition. In 2008, after receiving the blessing of the sick during her pilgrimage to Lourdes, she stood up and walked.

11 February, the Anniversary of Lourdes

The anniversary of the first apparition at Lourdes falls on 11 February. It was between 11 February and 16 July 1858 that Bernadette encountered the “beautiful Lady” in a small karst grotto near Massabielle, a place previously used for pig grazing.

“I saw a Lady dressed in white. She was wearing a white dress, a white veil, a blue sash, and a yellow rose on each foot.”

This is how Bernadette described the first apparition of the Virgin on 11 February 1858. The young girl had gone to the area near the grotto with one of her sisters and a friend to gather firewood. The Gave de Pau river flows nearby, and as the girls were removing their stockings to cross it, Bernadette heard a rustling sound like the wind in the trees, which made her look towards the grotto. That is when she saw the mysterious Lady, dressed in white, with a veil partly covering her, a blue sash, and a yellow rose on each foot. On that first day, Bernadette prayed the Rosary with her, and at the end of the prayer, the woman disappeared.

Buy Now:

Our Lady of Lourdes with Bernardette in wood of Valgardena

Statue in maple wood hand painted by the artisans of Valgardena.

The Water of Lourdes and Its Miracles

During another apparition, the ninth one on 25 February 1858, Bernadette, following the instructions of the “beautiful Lady,” discovered a spring at the back of the grotto at Massabielle. It was one of the eight springs feeding the river. Bernadette herself dug with her hands until the spring began to gush forth, and from the start, the water that flowed from the earth was revealed to be blessed. Bernadette was the first to drink it, and many quickly followed her example. News of the miraculous properties of the spring spread rapidly.

Over time, the water was channelled into fountains and pools so that devotees could immerse themselves in it and drink it. Most of the healings recognised as miracles of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred after the sick came into contact with the water of Lourdes or were immersed in the pools.

From a biological standpoint, Lourdes water is perfectly normal water, devoid of any substances that could explain its healing and salvific effects—or almost.

Various researchers have studied the water. The Italian biologist Enza Ciccolo, an expert in auriculomedicine (the study of the effects of light on the human body), found it to possess particular light frequencies that inhibit the proliferation of germs and bacteria. This would explain why no one has ever fallen ill from immersion in the Lourdes pools, despite the water not being changed frequently. Additionally, these frequencies are said to have beneficial effects on the body, particularly against skin and nervous system diseases.

Buy Now:

Rosaries, bracelets Lourdes

Rosaries and bracelets of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto conducted experiments on the shape water takes when it transitions from liquid to solid states. When freezing Lourdes water, he obtained crystals of transcendent, extraordinary beauty.

Luc Montagnier, who discovered the HIV virus, admitted that the powers of the water from Massabielle are inexplicable and that the miracles of Our Lady of Lourdes transcend science and medicine.

In her simplicity, Bernadette revealed from the beginning the true miracle hidden in Lourdes water: “One takes the water like a medicine… one must have faith, one must pray: this water would have no virtue without faith!”

Just as Bernadette dug with her hands into the mud in the dark of the grotto, so too must each of us, drinking the water that springs from that darkness, search within ourselves for faith and embrace it with the same childlike trust and innocence that guided Bernadette. Only then can we hope for healing.

Buy Now:

Our Lady of Lourdes

Our Lady of Lourdes, the mother of Jesus who appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.

The Miracles Recognised by the Church at Lourdes

As mentioned earlier, only seventy of the healings attributed to Lourdes water have been recognised by the Church as miracles of Our Lady of Lourdes and officially validated by the Bureau des Constatations Médicales (Office of Medical Observations). This body, established in 1905 at the Lourdes Sanctuary, collects testimonies and rigorously examines various cases of alleged healings before presenting them to the Comité Médical International de Lourdes (CMIL) in Paris, composed of medical specialists from around the world.

The Catholic Church recognises a healing as miraculous if it meets certain conditions:

– The original diagnosis must be verified and confirmed beyond any doubt.

– The disease must be deemed incurable according to current medical knowledge.

– The healing must be immediate, with rapid remission of symptoms or signs of the illness.

– The healing must be complete, with no residual disorders.

– The healing must be definitive, with no relapses.

More broadly, we must bear in mind the Church’s definition of a miracle, which is any occurrence not attributable to natural causes but rather justified by divine intervention.

A look at the long list of recognised healings—those miracles of Our Lady of Lourdes that the Church has acknowledged as genuine—reveals the diversity of stories, diseases, origins, and personal histories of those involved. Some of these individuals never visited Lourdes but declared themselves healed through the Virgin’s intercession.

Here are a few examples:

Louis-Justin Duconte-Bouhort, just eighteen months old and suffering from tuberculosis with paralysed legs, was close to death. On 2 May 1858, his mother, a neighbour of Bernadette, immersed him in the grotto’s water. The next day, the child stood up from his cradle and began to walk.

Pieter De Rudder, aged 44, had been crippled for eight years after a log crushed the bones in his leg. On 7 April 1875, after visiting the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Oostacker, he returned home without crutches.

Marie Biré, paralysed in one foot and one arm since 1904, received communion in the grotto of Massabielle on 5 August 1908 and regained her mobility.

Francis Pascal, who became blind and paralysed after contracting meningitis at age three, was healed after being immersed in the Lourdes pool.

Vittorio Micheli, suffering from an osteosarcoma in his pelvis that destroyed his bones, was immersed in the Lourdes spring. Subsequent X-rays showed bone regeneration, enabling him to walk and work again over time.

Delizia Cirolli, afflicted by a malignant tumour in her tibia, was healed after her mother poured Lourdes water daily on her diseased leg. The tumour vanished, and she began walking again.

Buy Now:

Our Lady of Lourdes with crown in painted wood of Valgardena

Statue in maple wood hand painted by the artisans of Valgardena.