Basilica in Lourdes: honor the holiness

Added: 06/21/2006

It happens sometimes that usual and well-known places become sacred. The ones where we first met our purest and most sincere love; the houses where our parents or children were born and grew up; the countries where our life turned over and where we suddenly understood something, which influenced all our future life. And when the days are grey, when the problems follow us and sadness seems to live in our houses and souls we come to these places to get the support, to refresh the mind, to perceive the wisdom.

Every person has places on the globe for speculations in serenity. We go there when we need time to make a decision, when the escape from the usual surrounding is essential for our future life, when we are just tired. And these places are different for everybody. But everyone knows about the sacred places for believers - the ones where everybody can be heard and calmed, where you can pray and ask, cry and smile and know that there is someone powerful and kind close to you who will help you face the life.

Such places have become the pilgrimage destinations and people from all over the world come there annually with a hope for rescuing their souls. And, perhaps, the most famous sacred place in the Christendom is Lourdes where the Basilica and the Grotto are situated. The history and fortune of this place are really amazing. Almost 150 years passed since there lived a little girl in Lourdes. At that time the place was a usual small market town. A fourteen-year old girl Bernadette Soubirous often walked near the Massabiele grotto, and once she saw a white-robed lady. The lady came to the girl another 17 times, everytime Bernadette being told to go to the priest and ask him to built a chapel above the grotto.

The wish of the lady was fulfilled in 1876, when the nowadays famous chapel appeared in Lourdes. When the lady came for the 16th time the girl was said to dig a hole near the holy grotto. Bernadette began to do it and soon the water appeared. During the next few days the pool was built, and nowadays it is the sacred spring, which is one of the most famous attractions in Lourdes said to have medical properties. In 1864 the Statue of the Madonna of Lourdes was erected at the place and with the time passing the chapel was changed to the basilica. As for the girl, she entered the Monastery of Nevers and was canonized in 1933.

The importance of these events cannot be overestimated and the population of the city really considers itself blessed by God. The city is calm and quiet, even when the tourist season is at its highest point. The reason is, perhaps, the holiness of this land where it seems blasphemous to be too loud and frisky. People come there for prayers, not for extreme emotions and activities. And even if you are not Catholic or a believer at all you may visit this sacred place just for calmness and peace, which rule there. Your emotions will be unique and never-forgettable. Though, if you want something more secular you may visit such places in Lourdes as numerous museums and nature treasures, which have no less popularity among tourists.

Sometimes we do not even understand why some places become more preferable to us than the other. Do not try to think if you like something. Better live in the place, which brings peace into your soul and calmness into your mind. Or, if you cannot do it just visit these places when you have free time. Be sure Lourdes with its Basilica and Grotto will necessarily supplement the list of such destinations, when you see it.

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