Lourdes water is water which flows from a spring in the Grotto of Massabielle in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, France. According to Catholic tradition, the location of the spring was described to Bernadette Soubirous by an apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes on 25 February 1858. Since that time, many millions of pilgrims to Lourdes have followed the instruction of the Blessed Virgin Mary to "drink at the spring and bathe in it".
Since the supposed apparitions, many people have claimed to have been cured by drinking or bathing in it,[1] and the Lourdes authorities provide it free of charge.[2]
- ^ Ruth Harris, Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular Age, Penguin Books, 1999, p. 312.
- ^ Shipping of Water from the Spring . Lourdes-France.org (2003-10-21). Retrieved on 2011-09-19.