Lourdes (Occitan name Lorda) is a small town and commune situated in the Southwest of the Hautes-Pyrenees department, lying in the first Pyrenean foothills, in southwestern France.
It is overlooked from the south by the Pyrenean peaks of Aneto, Montaigu, and Vignemale (3,298m), while around the town there are three summits reaching up to 1,000m, which are known as the Béout, the Petit Jer and the Grand Jer.

Lourdes was originally a small unremarkable market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees. At that time the most prominent feature was the fortified castle which rises up from the centre of the town on a rocky escarpment. Following the claims that there were apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858, Lourdes has developed into a major place of Christian pilgrimage.
Lourdes lies 497 miles south of Paris in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains. The small town of only 17,000 inhabitants receives more than 5 million pilgrims and tourists each year because of a set of visions reported by a young girl named Bernadette in 1858. Lourdes has the second greatest number of hotels in France after Paris with about 270 establishments. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes incorporates 52 hectares of property and 22 places of worship, including the sacred grotto, two basilicas, and a variety of buildings for pilgrims and the sick. Outside the sanctuary, many pilgrims also visit the Lourdes home of the young visionary, St. Bernadette.

Lourdes is the largest Catholic pilgrimage destination in France, and one of the most popular Catholic shrines in the world.


It is the joint seat of the diocese of Tarbes-et-Lourdes.

Up until 1858, Lourdes was a quiet modest sleepy county-town with a population of only some 4,000 inhabitants. The castle was occupied by an infantry garrison. The town was a place people passed through on their way to the waters at Bar�ges, Cauterets, Luz-Saint-Sauveur and Bagn�res-de-Bigorre, and for the first mountaineers on their way to Gavarnie, when the events which were to change its history took place. On 11 February 1858, a 14-year-old local girl, Bernadette Soubirous claimed a beautiful lady appeared to her in the remote Grotto of Massabielle. The lady later identified herself as "the Immaculate Conception" and the faithful believe her to be the Blessed Virgin Mary. The lady appeared 18 times, and by 1859 thousands of pilgrims were visiting Lourdes. A statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was erected at the site in 1864. See Our Lady of Lourdes for more details on the apparitions.

Since the apparitions, Lourdes has become one of the world's leading Catholic Marian shrines and the number of visitors grows each year. It has such an important place within the Roman Catholic church, that Pope John Paul II visited the shrine twice on 15th August 1983 and 14th-15th August 2004. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI authorized special indulgences to mark the 150th anniversary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Modern Lourdes has no shortage of glitz on display. Visitors may be amazed by the commercialism practiced in Lourdes, with neon-emblazoned gift shops overflowing with souvenirs and holy artifacts. Critics argue that the Lourdes phenomenon is nothing more than a significant money spinner for the town and the region, which therefore has a strong vested interest in keeping the pilgrims coming, however the commercialism is strictly forbidden inside the sanctuary itself.

Besides the glitz of commerce, streets of Lourdes are full of religious pilgrims, the sick on special 3-wheel cart pulled by the St Clair Sisters, Youth groups, and volunteers coming from all over EU.

Every nation in the world furnishes its contingent. Out of the total of pilgrimages given above, 464 came from countries other than France. They are sent by the United States, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Italy, England, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, Bolivia, etc. The bishops lead the way. At the end of the year of the 50th anniversary, 2013 prelates, including 546 archbishops, 10 primates, 19 patriarchs, 69 cardinals, had made the pilgrimage to Lourdes.

On August 15, 2004, Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage to Lourdes to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. At the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Pope declared himself to be "a sick among the sick", as the Pope had been struck by Parkingson disease since 1994 and other personal sufferings, intestine tumor removal, hip implant, appendix removal, broken shoulder. Finally, Our Lady of Lourdes has a message for everyone. "Be men and women of freedom! But remember: human freedom is a freedom wounded by sin. It is a freedom which itself needs to be set free. Christ is its liberator; he is the one who "for freedom has set us free" (cf. Gal 5:1). Defend that freedom!"


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