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Lourdes: A Modern Pilgrimage
The most popular pilgrimage site in the world
That is Lourdes, a small town in the French Pyrenees, where in 1858 Our Lady appeared to the young peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous. Curiosity and fascination grew steadily, a shrine was erected at the grotto where Bernadette experienced these visions, and Lourdes became a worldwide attraction. Today, more than 4 million people visit the shrine each year. Many come out of desperate hope; and countless "miracles" and healings have been claimed by visitors during the past century.
What is behind the phenomenal growth of Lourdes? Who are the pilgrims who visit Lourdes in such record numbers? What really happens there? Patrick Marnham had asked himself these very questions many times. Finally, in search of some answers, he joined a pilgrimage from England to Lourdes and his revelations are at once astounding and absorbing. A MODERN PILGRIMAGE is an objective account -- based on his own experience -- of both sides of the town of high prices and low commercialism; and the other Lourdes, the domain of Our Lady, where the tourist industry gives way to Christian prayer and fellowship. He tells what it is like to go on a pilgrimage and how the famous miracle cures and authenticated. He sees both horrors and wonders there, as well as mysteries of faith at work in an age of doubt.
For anyone who has been there, or for anyone planning to travel there someday, this book offers a fascinating overview of the paradox that is Lourdes.
That is Lourdes, a small town in the French Pyrenees, where in 1858 Our Lady appeared to the young peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous. Curiosity and fascination grew steadily, a shrine was erected at the grotto where Bernadette experienced these visions, and Lourdes became a worldwide attraction. Today, more than 4 million people visit the shrine each year. Many come out of desperate hope; and countless "miracles" and healings have been claimed by visitors during the past century.
What is behind the phenomenal growth of Lourdes? Who are the pilgrims who visit Lourdes in such record numbers? What really happens there? Patrick Marnham had asked himself these very questions many times. Finally, in search of some answers, he joined a pilgrimage from England to Lourdes and his revelations are at once astounding and absorbing. A MODERN PILGRIMAGE is an objective account -- based on his own experience -- of both sides of the town of high prices and low commercialism; and the other Lourdes, the domain of Our Lady, where the tourist industry gives way to Christian prayer and fellowship. He tells what it is like to go on a pilgrimage and how the famous miracle cures and authenticated. He sees both horrors and wonders there, as well as mysteries of faith at work in an age of doubt.
For anyone who has been there, or for anyone planning to travel there someday, this book offers a fascinating overview of the paradox that is Lourdes.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
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September 23, 2024
A WRITER AND JOURNALIST LOOKS AT THE POPULAR SITE OF PILGRIMAGE
Patrick Marnham is an English writer, journalist and biographer; as a journalist, he has written for Private Eye, The Independent and The Spectator among others. He served as Literary Editor of The Spectator and Paris correspondent of The Independent. His other books include 'Resistance and Betrayal: The Death and Life of the Greatest Hero of the French Resistance,' 'Dreaming with His Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera,' 'Wild Mary: A Life of Mary Wesley,' 'So Far from God,' 'Snake Dance: Journeys Beneath a Nuclear Sky,' etc.
He wrote in the Preface to this 1980 book, "The popularity of the pilgrimage increases almost every year and Lourdes now receives between four and five million visitors annually... The sick pilgrims feel better, not in the sense of receiving a cure---that occurs only in a tiny fraction of cases---but in the sense of feeling stronger and happier and more reconciled to their lives... one should remember the distinction which is always made between 'miracles' and 'cures.'
More than five thousand cures have been recorded by the Medical Bureau at Lourdes. A number of these have been thoroughly investigated, and a small proportion, found to be 'medically inexplicable,' have been forwarded to the appropriate bishop for consideration by a diocesan commission. Of the cures which have been examined by the Church only sixty-four, in over a hundred years, have been proclaimed miraculous."
He notes that "On her way back to the town Bernadette embraced a sick girl, Eugénie Troy... The girl removed the bandages round her eyes and could see. It was rumoured everywhere that a blind child had been cured, and Father Peyramale went so far as to report the matter to the Bishop of Tarbes. But his subsequent investigation showed that the girl had never been blind and that she only wore the bandage because the light hurt her eyes. She was very ill and continued so after a temporary improvement effected by her meeting with Bernadette. She died a year later." (Pg. 28)
He points out, "Four of the cures which were shortly to be proclaimed as genuine and miraculous had already been effected, and Bernadette had herself met at least two truthful and sincere people who claimed cures, but she did not seek her own cure at Lourdes. The devout explanation is that the Lady had already told her that she would not make her happy in this world, but the simpler reason is that Bernadette herself did not believe in the cures of Lourdes...when she was asked by an English tourist ... about the miracles... she replied: 'There's no truth in all that.' And when two other visitors asked her if she knew anything of any cures she said: 'I have been told that there have been miracles, but... I have not seen them.' She explicitly denied contributing to any of them, and for her own case Bernadette preferred thermalism." (Pg. 36-37)
Of the town of Lourdes, he reports, "At first sight one seems to be moving down an arcade of garish souvenir shops. Then one realizes that ... they are all selling 'objects of piety.'" (Pg. 66) He adds, "The parish priests of Lourdes are well aware of the town's spiritual apathy. Lourdes is a parish of nearly twenty thousand people which has ten parish priests, about the average ratio for France. It claims a thirty percent proportion of practicing Catholic adults, which is higher than the national average but not higher than the average for most country towns. It is a matter of particular concern that since 1954 the number of divorces per one hundred marriages has risen from seven to twenty-one." (Pg. 80)
He observes, "The practice of allowing so many pilgrims to bathe in the same water [of the Grotto] has long caused people to wonder that there has been no outbreak of cholera or typhoid at Lourdes, particularly during the hot and busy August seasons. But no record of infection from the baths is kept at Lourdes." (Pg. 144)
He states, "The doors of the Medical Bureau at Lourdes are the ultimate goal of every sick pilgrim. If you receive a cure at Lourdes you have the opportunity, some would say the moral obligation. to go to the Medical Bureau and report the event... Nobody knows how many people have experienced cures at Lourdes. But records of one sort of another have been kept since the twelfth apparition, and the archives of the Medical Bureau go back to 1878. More than five thousand cures have been recorded, of which only sixty-four were eventually proclaimed' miracles.' The activities of the Medical Bureau are the first step in achieving this bold reduction." (Pg. 194)
This book offers a refreshing, relatively "objective" perspective on Lourdes. Although sometimes skeptical, it is not sarcastic or mocking, and will be of great interest to anyone looking for an appraisal of Lourdes that is not simply of "devotional" value.
Patrick Marnham is an English writer, journalist and biographer; as a journalist, he has written for Private Eye, The Independent and The Spectator among others. He served as Literary Editor of The Spectator and Paris correspondent of The Independent. His other books include 'Resistance and Betrayal: The Death and Life of the Greatest Hero of the French Resistance,' 'Dreaming with His Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera,' 'Wild Mary: A Life of Mary Wesley,' 'So Far from God,' 'Snake Dance: Journeys Beneath a Nuclear Sky,' etc.
He wrote in the Preface to this 1980 book, "The popularity of the pilgrimage increases almost every year and Lourdes now receives between four and five million visitors annually... The sick pilgrims feel better, not in the sense of receiving a cure---that occurs only in a tiny fraction of cases---but in the sense of feeling stronger and happier and more reconciled to their lives... one should remember the distinction which is always made between 'miracles' and 'cures.'
More than five thousand cures have been recorded by the Medical Bureau at Lourdes. A number of these have been thoroughly investigated, and a small proportion, found to be 'medically inexplicable,' have been forwarded to the appropriate bishop for consideration by a diocesan commission. Of the cures which have been examined by the Church only sixty-four, in over a hundred years, have been proclaimed miraculous."
He notes that "On her way back to the town Bernadette embraced a sick girl, Eugénie Troy... The girl removed the bandages round her eyes and could see. It was rumoured everywhere that a blind child had been cured, and Father Peyramale went so far as to report the matter to the Bishop of Tarbes. But his subsequent investigation showed that the girl had never been blind and that she only wore the bandage because the light hurt her eyes. She was very ill and continued so after a temporary improvement effected by her meeting with Bernadette. She died a year later." (Pg. 28)
He points out, "Four of the cures which were shortly to be proclaimed as genuine and miraculous had already been effected, and Bernadette had herself met at least two truthful and sincere people who claimed cures, but she did not seek her own cure at Lourdes. The devout explanation is that the Lady had already told her that she would not make her happy in this world, but the simpler reason is that Bernadette herself did not believe in the cures of Lourdes...when she was asked by an English tourist ... about the miracles... she replied: 'There's no truth in all that.' And when two other visitors asked her if she knew anything of any cures she said: 'I have been told that there have been miracles, but... I have not seen them.' She explicitly denied contributing to any of them, and for her own case Bernadette preferred thermalism." (Pg. 36-37)
Of the town of Lourdes, he reports, "At first sight one seems to be moving down an arcade of garish souvenir shops. Then one realizes that ... they are all selling 'objects of piety.'" (Pg. 66) He adds, "The parish priests of Lourdes are well aware of the town's spiritual apathy. Lourdes is a parish of nearly twenty thousand people which has ten parish priests, about the average ratio for France. It claims a thirty percent proportion of practicing Catholic adults, which is higher than the national average but not higher than the average for most country towns. It is a matter of particular concern that since 1954 the number of divorces per one hundred marriages has risen from seven to twenty-one." (Pg. 80)
He observes, "The practice of allowing so many pilgrims to bathe in the same water [of the Grotto] has long caused people to wonder that there has been no outbreak of cholera or typhoid at Lourdes, particularly during the hot and busy August seasons. But no record of infection from the baths is kept at Lourdes." (Pg. 144)
He states, "The doors of the Medical Bureau at Lourdes are the ultimate goal of every sick pilgrim. If you receive a cure at Lourdes you have the opportunity, some would say the moral obligation. to go to the Medical Bureau and report the event... Nobody knows how many people have experienced cures at Lourdes. But records of one sort of another have been kept since the twelfth apparition, and the archives of the Medical Bureau go back to 1878. More than five thousand cures have been recorded, of which only sixty-four were eventually proclaimed' miracles.' The activities of the Medical Bureau are the first step in achieving this bold reduction." (Pg. 194)
This book offers a refreshing, relatively "objective" perspective on Lourdes. Although sometimes skeptical, it is not sarcastic or mocking, and will be of great interest to anyone looking for an appraisal of Lourdes that is not simply of "devotional" value.
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