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Article: The miracle of Lourdes; The town where St Bernadette saw visions of the Virgin has long been hailed as a place of healing, writes Susan Spano.(Life)
- Article from:
- The Sunday Independent (South Africa)
- Article date:
- September 28, 2008
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When Pope Benedict XVI visited Lourdes in the foothills of the French Pyrenees recently, he followed in the footsteps of millions of pilgrims who had come before him.
Like them, he took Communion, drank from the holy spring and touched the stone at the base of a cliff by the Gave River, where heaven opened to a 14-year-old girl, known as Bernadette, who said she first saw the Virgin Mary there on February 11 1858. The pope celebrated the 150th anniversary of St Bernadette's apparitions, with a pilgrim's heart full of yearning for transformation.
Six million people visit Lourdes every year, including 100 000 volunteers and 80 000 ill and disabled pilgrims ...