Fr Brian Darcy: ‘Going to Lourdes restored my faith in people’s faith’

I didn’t expect to find a thriving basilica after Covid. Church attendance has fallen through the floor.

Yet last Sunday morning I was part of a worldwide gathering for Mass in a massive underground basilica attended by over 25,000 pilgrims.

It was solemn, uplifting, prayerful and beautifully organised. The occasion restored my faith in people’s faith.

Lourdes is not what it used to be, but it is still the mother of all pilgrimages.

It began when a young girl of no standing had a vision of Mary, the mother of God, whilst gathering sticks to keep her family warm.

On February 11, 1858 Bernadette, as a 14-year-old girl, experienced a vision of “a lady in white” whom we now know was the Virgin Mary.

She was foraging for firewood along a river bank on the edge of the town of Lourdes.

Now 165 years later, millions of people, mainly, but not exclusively, Roman Catholics, come to Lourdes as a place of pilgrimage and healing.

As with all visionaries, we don’t have to believe Bernadette’s story.

But there is something about the life of this frail, sick, poverty-stricken young girl which attracts people of every age.

Bernadette Soubirous was born on January 7, 1844 and was the eldest of nine children.

The family lived in a disused prison cell, in dire poverty.

So much so that Bernadette as a child, and later as a teenager, was sent to an aunt in Bartres,three kilometres outside Lourdes. She helped her aunt to look after her sheep.

At 14 Bernadette came back to Lourdes to prepare for her First Communion.

On the evening of the 11th of February, she went with some friends to collect firewood.

But when she removed her clogs to cross the river, she experienced a sensation which she explained was like a gust of wind.

She saw a vision of a lady dressed in white.

This was the first of 18 visions which took place between the 11th of February and the 16th of July in 1858.

When she experienced the last of the visions, 8,000 onlookers were present.

One of the highlights of a pilgrimage to Lourdes is to take part in the torchlight procession.

The Lourdes domain is a 50-hectare site and, after Rome, is the largest Catholic shrine in the world.

The procession takes place at dusk with thousands of pilgrims singing and praying and holding their lighted candles.

The pilgrims in wheelchairs lead the procession.

The first time I went to Lourdes I was shocked by the crass commercialism of the town itself.

There is nothing uplifting, strolling around the town of Lourdes with its millions of plastic bottles for Lourdes water, quirky statues and a million miles of wooden rosaries.

Lourdes was once summed up as a place of “faith, hope and plastic.” Yet, as soon as I left the town and entered the Grotto area, I experienced an overwhelming sense of peace.

Whether the visions took place or not is, in one sense, immaterial. Lourdes is made holy by the prayers of millions of sincere pilgrims.

During one of the visions, the ‘lady in white’ asked Bernadette to scoop away some clay and drink the water she found there.

Bernadette did what she was told and instantly a spring of water bubbled up.

For decades pilgrims bathed in the water but since Covid, we just washed our faces and hands in the water.

Not everyone who goes to Lourdes seeks a miraculous cure.

In fact, even though there have been thousands upon thousands of miraculous experiences, less than 70 miracles have been approved by the Catholic Church.

The most common ‘miracles’ are acceptance and peace of mind.

Bernadette herself, shortly after the apparitions, was taken into the convent for protection.

She later became a nun and never went back to Lourdes again. She accepted sickness as part of her life.

She didn’t ask God for physical healing. On the 16th of April 1879, Bernadette died at the age of 35. She was canonised in 1933.

During the 18 visits, Mary spoke only seven times to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous. She appeared standing on a rock teaching Bernadette and us the secret of happiness.

In Lourdes, I was a real pilgrim who made time to make the journey inward — the longest journey of all. I witnessed the goodness of human nature in action in Lourdes. It made the journey there worthwhile.

Bernadette’s visions 165 years ago continue to inspire millions of pilgrims to come to Lourdes.

For me, it is the closest experience I have of heaven on earth.