Lourdes was a quiet country town in the south of France until 1858 when a poor local girl, Bernadette Soubirous, reported seeing 18 Marian Apparitions at the local grotto. The site quickly attracted pilgrims and also many sick people who came to pray for a cure. To cope with the number of visitors, three basilicas, a medical bureau and a large number of hotels have been built at Lourdes. To date there have been 69 miraculous cures which have been acknowledged by the Roman Catholic Church.
Around six million people visit Lourdes each year, and the town is the second most important tourist centre in France - after Paris. It is also the third most important site of Catholic pilgrimage after Rome and the Holy Land.
This book is the first major historical work on all aspects of Lourdes - both as a site of pilgrimage, and also its history since medieval times. It has over 1,000 illustrations, including many photographs taken for this book.
Monsignor Harry Entwistle, in his foreword, writes, 'I am sure that if you have visited Lourdes you will discover a great deal more about some of the places you visited, and if you have not been fortunate enough to do so, this book may trigger a desire to do so.'
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