67 MIRACLES
The 67th and latest Lourdes miracle was acknowledged in late 2005 by Mgr Gerardo Pierro, archbishop of Salerno, who proclaimed the “miraculous healing” of Anna Santaniello in Lourdes half a century before. The old woman, then aged 94, suffered from a heart malformation which doctors deemed incurable.
At the age of 40, her condition worsening, she decided to go to Lourdes in spite of the opposition of her family and doctors. Unable too breathe, she was taken to the holy spring on a stretcher and bathed in the pools. “The water was icy but I felt something burning in my chest just as if life was returning inside of me. A few seconds later, while I could no longer take a step, I stood and walked to the bewilderment of my nurses,” she said. Back home, she went to a renowned cardiologist, who said I was in perfectly good health and could not understand the results of the previous tests.
The Church finally determined that there was no scientific explanation to the miracle and proclaimed it a miracle.
In 1884 the Catholic Church created a medical bureau to examine the claims of miracle healings. A first investigation is led by the Lourdes bureau and is later transferred to Rome. The final investigation is led in the diocese of the diseased.
FC LOURDES, THE TOWN’S OTHER MIRACLE
Eight French champion titles between 1948 and 1968. Eleven finals between 1945 and May 68. Eight internationals in 1948, seven ten years later. Twelve years without a home defeat between 1948 and 1960. Figures speak for themselves: FC Lourdes was the greatest rugby union club in the post-war period. The club, founded in 1911, was very discreet until the 1940s. The team’s golden era is linked to a man, Jean Prat, who was their captain an then their coach before becoming France’s selector in 1963. The list of players who played for Lourdes is a roll of honour of French rugby at the time: Jean and Maurice Prat, Roger Martine, Henri Domec, Rancoule, François and Antoine Labazuy, Jean Barthe, then Michel Crauste, transferred from the Racing Club de France, and Jean Gachassin, recruited in Bagneres-de-Bigorre. The 70s were painful for the once unbeatable Lourdes. A victory in the 1984 French Cup was just a reprieve. Even though Lourdes would produce more rugby greats such as Jean-Pierre Garuet or Louis Armary, the decline was ineluctable and FC Lourdes is no longer a major force.
The Tour de France only stopped in Lourdes once in 1948, with the victory of Gino Bartali. It was the only finish in town but four other stages ended in the nearby ski resort of Hautacam. A very pious man, Bartali sent a telegram to the Pope after his victory asking for a special benediction for himself and his family. After dinner, he asked to go to the grotto. He kneeled down and asked the Virgin Mary: “Madonna, I did not come here to ask you to help me win. This I can do by myself. I just came to ask you to protect me against crashes.” The previous year, Bartali had crashed on the road to Briancon and had been forced to quit.
In 1948, his prayer was heard.
The sanctuaries
They are open round the clock. Can be visited the Massabielle grotto, the basilicas, the crypt, the Ste Bernadette church, the adoration tent, the chapel of reconciliation and the outside stations of the cross. A torchlight procession takes place every night from April to October.
Lourdes Castle
A key stronghold in the network of fortresses on the Pyrenees piedmont, overlooking the city, the castle is a major trace of Lourdes history from the 11th to the 19th century.
Since 1921, it has been home to a Pyrenean Museum recounting the history of the Pyrenees and the mountain way of life both sides of the border from the 18th to the 20th century.
Pic du Jer and its cable car
Lourdes is overlooked by the Pic du Jer. A cable car takes visitors to the top in six minutes. The view is exceptional wile a footpath follows “Bernadette’s footsteps”, form her birth house to the cell in which she lived.
