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"I Am Ground, Like a Grain of Wheat" -- A Reflection on the Paradoxical Passion of St. Bernadette Msgr. Charles Pope January 18, 2016 The life of St. Bernadette Soubirous was steeped in paradox and irony. She was the chosen visionary of our Lady at Lourdes and was to bring forth, by heavenly guidance, a spring that would bring miraculous healing to thousands. Yet Bernadette herself was beset with health problems that would cause her dreadful suffering. Her quiet and heroic suffering, something she accepted with obedience and as a kind of mission for souls, is not common knowledge...

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II FOR THE 12th WORLD DAY OF THE SICK (SHRINE OF LOURDES, FRANCE, FEBRUARY 11, 2004) To my Venerable Brother Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán President of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care 1. The World Day of the Sick, an event held on a different Continent each year, takes on a singular meaning this time. Indeed, it will take place in Lourdes, France, site of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin on 11 February 1858, which since that time has become the destination of many pilgrimages. In that mountainous region, Our Lady wished...

For millions of pilgrims, a visit to Lourdes to take its miraculous healing waters is an intensely spiritual experience. Since Bernadette Soubirous witnessed the first of 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary almost 150 years ago, the shrine has become a place of quiet contemplation and religious devotion. Hail Mary or Bloody Mary? Lourdes is home to tacky gift shops and numerous bars and clubs But now the town's peace is being shattered by thousands of British tourists whose behaviour has become so bad that officials have brought in riot police. The decision to deploy officers from the notorious...