Our Lady of Lourdes

This is a fest that is held to commemorate  the Marian apparitions that had been taking place  in front of several individuals in Lourdes France, the apparitions were quite numerous.

Requesting petitions for the following:

• Health.
• Special favors.
• Help to gain back health.
• Feast: 11-Feb
• Day: Wednesday
• Candle/ Emblem: White
• Matters concerning: Help to regain health and special favors.

Background

The most notable of the apparition occurred in 1858.  Saint Bernadette Soubirous, then, just 14 years old she claimed to have encountered a strange lady in a cave near the town as they were collecting firewood. The lady is said to have appeared on 17 seventeen instances in the year 1858. Later on, Bernadette Soubirous was canonized. In the area, quite a number of the religious people believe that the Saint was the one responsible for the powers that were in the Lourdes Spring, the river had healing powers.

Pope Pius IX, in year 1862 gave authority to the then Bishop Bertrand-Sévère Laurence to allow veneration of Mary the Virgin in the area. This title Our Lady of Lourdes then spread out so fast in the area with many of the people displaying it in their residences, worship places and even their backyards.

Many followers of Roman Catholicism have for centuries been holding the beliefs that all the apparitions of Mary over the centuries is a religious phenomenon that is heaven sent to show that the mighty God is existent and to prove that indeed Mary is the is the mediator between humans and God. The church has always been keen enough to differentiate between unreal and real apparitions. Note that, there have been so many apparitions in  history but only a few have been recognized, Namely; Our Lady of Lourdes, Beauraing, Pontmain, Our Lady of Akita, Banneux, Our Mother of The Miraculous Medal, Guadalupe and La sarrete.

Approval of the apparition is normally done by the local bishop before being recognized as a being real. For instance, in France, it was approved in consultation with the pope and the congregation of faith. The veneration of the presence of Mary Mother of Jesus does not give the guarantee that the event occurred but rather is a show of the acceptability of having happened.

Response from the Catholic Church

A sanctuary basilica has been built to mark the site of the apparitions. The bishop of Tarbes, Laurence gave a declaration that was meant to approve the apparition that was on 18th January 1862. He said that after careful cross examination of Bernadette, they found the reason to believe that bit was indeed a unique appearance and not fiction. They were fully convinced that the apparition were quite supernatural holy.

Due to the privacy nature of the apparitions, all the believers are neo asked to believe them as they in reality don’t add anything to the fundamentals of the catholic religion according to the public revelation. God choose whoever shall send out his message and therefore all the Christians should ask for the ability through prayers.

To celebrate this Our Lady of Lourdes, the Catholic Church does hold memorials on the February 11th of every year; this has been named the first apparition anniversary.