Independent Ireland:
More than 7,000 cures have taken place at the springs of Lourdes since a shepherd girl saw visions of the Virgin Mary in 1858. Clodagh Finn joined the Irish Pilgrimage Trust on its 40th anniversary trip to the French city
More than 7,000 cures have taken place at the springs of Lourdes since a shepherd girl saw visions of the Virgin Mary in 1858. Clodagh Finn joined the Irish Pilgrimage Trust on its 40th anniversary trip to the French city
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| Bernadette Soubirous, who had 18 visions of the Virgin Mary at a grotto in Lourdes in 1858 |
The news must have spread like wildfire, because by the time shepherd girl Bernadette Soubirous had her 18th and final vision of the Virgin Mary, several thousand people had already flocked to the grotto in Lourdes.
In 1858, just as now, there were sceptics as well as believers. The police commissioner and local parish priest both rigorously questioned Bernadette and, after the 11th apparition, she was brought to the house of Judge Ribes, who threatened to put her in jail. But it was the story of the miracles that endured. Under the guidance of the apparition — a woman dressed in white and blue with a yellow rose on each foot — Bernadette scratched at a spot in the soil of the grotto to reveal a spring.
That spring now produces 27,000 gallons of water a day and some five million people a year visit the shrine where 67 accepted miracles and more than 7,000 cures have taken place.
Among them are members of the Irish Pilgrimage Trust (IHCPT), which are celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. The story of the IHCPT is a little like the story of Lourdes itself. It started out as a small venture in England, when Dr Michael Strode brought eight children to Lourdes in 1955, and it has gone from strength to strength ever since.
In 1971, an Irish-affiliated branch was set up by Anthea O’Grady, and this Easter, 1,100 Irish people flew to Lourdes to join 4,000 other Trust members from the UK, America, Croatia, the West Indies and Romania. The people who go to Lourdes with the IHCPT don’t go expecting miracles, yet they come away from the world’s most famous Marian shrine feeling that they have witnessed something out of the ordinary.
It’s a feeling that is catching. One mother was so surprised by the change in her daughter after a pilgrimage to the French town that she rang the IHCPT asking what they had done to her. “She is a changed girl since she came home,” she said, recounting her daughter’s new acceptance of her Spina Bifida. There are hundreds of stories like that — minor ‘miracles’ that will never make headlines, but changes that have made an enormous difference to thousands of young people with special needs who have been involved with the IHCPT in the past four decades.
“When they go home, the children are all changed — even a little bit,” says IHCPT chairman John O’Reilly. “They might be more open, more confident or more accepting of their particular disability. Here in Lourdes, they are treated as normal people. It’s as if the disability is no longer visible; that is the real miracle.”
In 1858, just as now, there were sceptics as well as believers. The police commissioner and local parish priest both rigorously questioned Bernadette and, after the 11th apparition, she was brought to the house of Judge Ribes, who threatened to put her in jail. But it was the story of the miracles that endured. Under the guidance of the apparition — a woman dressed in white and blue with a yellow rose on each foot — Bernadette scratched at a spot in the soil of the grotto to reveal a spring.
That spring now produces 27,000 gallons of water a day and some five million people a year visit the shrine where 67 accepted miracles and more than 7,000 cures have taken place.
Among them are members of the Irish Pilgrimage Trust (IHCPT), which are celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. The story of the IHCPT is a little like the story of Lourdes itself. It started out as a small venture in England, when Dr Michael Strode brought eight children to Lourdes in 1955, and it has gone from strength to strength ever since.
In 1971, an Irish-affiliated branch was set up by Anthea O’Grady, and this Easter, 1,100 Irish people flew to Lourdes to join 4,000 other Trust members from the UK, America, Croatia, the West Indies and Romania. The people who go to Lourdes with the IHCPT don’t go expecting miracles, yet they come away from the world’s most famous Marian shrine feeling that they have witnessed something out of the ordinary.
It’s a feeling that is catching. One mother was so surprised by the change in her daughter after a pilgrimage to the French town that she rang the IHCPT asking what they had done to her. “She is a changed girl since she came home,” she said, recounting her daughter’s new acceptance of her Spina Bifida. There are hundreds of stories like that — minor ‘miracles’ that will never make headlines, but changes that have made an enormous difference to thousands of young people with special needs who have been involved with the IHCPT in the past four decades.
“When they go home, the children are all changed — even a little bit,” says IHCPT chairman John O’Reilly. “They might be more open, more confident or more accepting of their particular disability. Here in Lourdes, they are treated as normal people. It’s as if the disability is no longer visible; that is the real miracle.”
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