Queen Virgin Mary & Child Jesus Christ of the Holy Family

1. THE LOURDES WATER – is considered as a miraculous healing water by many
Catholic Christian pilgrims, which flows from a natural spring in the Grotto of
Massabielle in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, France (Europe).
The healing properties of the “Lourdes water” was described to a young peasant French
girl named Saint Bernadette Soubirous (or Saint Bernadette of Lourdes) by a Marian
apparition of Mother Mary (as Our Lady of Lourdes) at a cave (called the “pig’s sty”) on
February 25, 1858 (as approved by the Roman Catholic Church).
Bernadette saw a beautiful maiden appear with a golden rosary, so she began praying
the Rosary with the lady, not knowing who she was. The lady asked Bernadette to
return to the Grotto, and after a while, she revealed herself as “The Immaculate
Conception,” which was a title unknown to Bernadette due to her lack of education.
Thus, only those who learned Catholic theology (including the clergy) and understood
that the new dogma could interpret this to mean that this was, in fact, a woman claiming
to be Mary, the Mother of God.
Following Our Lady’s instructions, Saint Bernadette dug in the dirt, where Mother Mary
told her a healing spring of water would be found. Shortly thereafter, pilgrims traveled to
discover the truthfulness of this claim, and many were cured of various physical
ailments.
Since that time, many thousands of pilgrims to Lourdes have followed the instruction of
Our Lady of Lourdes to "drink at the spring and bathe in it". The “Lourdes water” flows
from a spring in the Grotto at the same spot where it was discovered by Bernadette. At
maximum, the water flows at 40 liters per minute (or 11 gallons per minute).
PURE WATER FROM MOTHER NATURE
Although the clean mountain spring water is found among natural resources of earth -
the water is collected in a cistern, and dispensed via a system of taps near the shrine,
where pilgrims may drink it or collect it in bottles or other containers to take with them.
The original spring can be seen within the Grotto, lit from below, and protected by a
glass screen.
Although “Lourdes water” is considered by the Roman Catholic Church as “non-liturgical
holy water”; as compared to the liturgical “holy water” blessed by the clergy (such as
priests) as sprinkled upon the congregation, used for baptisms (i.e. in baptismal fonts),
placed at the entrance of churches (i.e. holy water fonts), or used for places to be
blessed (such as homes). However, the Roman Catholic Church has not reported any
miraculous healings with the liturgical “holy water” similar to that of the “Lourdes water”.
And as of 2019, for 160 years since the instruction of Mother Mary, “Lourdes water” has
never been formally encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church. However, the “Lourdes

2. water”, considered as holy water to many Christians, has become a focus of devotion to
the Virgin Mary at Lourdes.
Since the Marian apparitions, many people (particularly the Christian lay people) have
claimed to have been cured by drinking or bathing in it, and the Lourdes authorities
provide the water free of charge to any who ask for it.
An analysis of the water was commissioned by a French university professor; and he
determined that the water is potable and contains the following: oxygen, nitrogen,
carbonic acid, carbonates of lime and magnesia, a trace of carbonate of iron, an
alkaline carbonate or silicate, chlorides of potassium and sodium, traces of sulphates of
potassium and soda, traces of ammonia, and traces of iodine – considered pure as the
mountain water was filtered.
BELIEVED AS HEALING WATER
Bathing pools were constructed for pilgrims to immerse in the “Lourdes water”. Then the
current 17 bath cubicles were reconstructed in 1955 (eleven for women and six for
men); while each year about 350,000 people use the baths. Traditionally, pilgrims
collect gallons of water at the taps to be given to family and friends unable to make the
trip to Lourdes.
During the 1897 Jubilee Pilgrimage to Lourdes, priest François Picard was thirsty after a
long day; and so he asked an assistant to fill his glass from a bathing pool even it was
heavily contaminated from the sick pilgrims who had been immersed in it. But "When
the father had received the water, he made the sign of the cross and drank slowly, right
to the end. Then, he gave back the glass and concluded with a smile: ‘The water of the
good Mother of Heaven is always delicious’."
The water is not heated and is usually cold; the temperature is around 12 °C (54 °F).
The usual ritual immersion lasts around a minute, during which time prayers are recited
and veneration of a statue of the Blessed Virgin is encouraged.
Able-bodied pilgrims are aided by one or two volunteer attendants, but immobile
pilgrims sometimes require much more physical help. The water in each bath is
constantly being topped up and refreshed via a pump. It is now constantly circulated
and purified by irradiation.
CLEAN WATER THAT SPREADS FAITH
In 1950, the Lourdes Center in Boston (Massachusetts) was established by the Cardinal
and Bishop to distribute the “Lourdes water” in the United States, as operated by the
Marist Fathers.
In 2002 the Water Walk was introduced, across the Gave and slightly downstream from
the Grotto. It consists of a series of nine stations at which there is a small “Lourdes

3. water” font. The stations form a walkway along the Gave which can be followed in either
direction.
As they walk, pilgrims are invited to wash or drink, and meditate on passages from the
Bible. Each station carries one of the titles of the Virgin Mary, such as "Queen of the
Apostles", "Mother of Good Counsel", and "Our Lady of Light".
As of summer 2007, airline passengers on pilgrimage to Lourdes were forbidden to
bring containers of the “Lourdes water” on the plane (including the purchased “mineral
water” also found in the mountains or purified in manufacturing plants).
Officials at the airports (in Europe, United States & worldwide) said that prohibition of
bringing in water was in keeping with new anti-terrorism regulations about liquids
following the “2006 transatlantic aircraft plot” (or a terrorist plot to detonate liquid
explosives carried on board airliners often travelling from the United Kingdom to the
United States).
WELL-KNOWN HEALINGS FROM LOURDES WATER
The Marian Catholic shrine for prayer at the rural town of Lourdes is one of the most
popular pilgrimage sites for those seeking healing. Out of 70 miracle stories approved
by the Roman Catholic Church, the following are 34 top stories, as documented
miracles that occurred among pilgrims who traveled to Lourdes – that could inspire and
encourage the people’s faith in God to grow evermore, and believe that the Marian
Apparitions of Mother Mary are true.
1. The first documented miracle at Lourdes occurred in 1858 when Catherine Latapie
felt a sudden urge to travel to Lourdes in search of healing. Two years prior, she had
fallen from a tree and severely injured her right hand. The accident left two of her
fingers entirely paralyzed. Latapie met Bernadette at the grotto and very simply washed
her hand in the small spring that had formed. Instantaneously, the paralysis of her
fingers was gone, and she could move them just as she could before her accident.
2. The most oft-quoted miracle related to Lourdes happened to Louis Bouriette, a
gentleman of 55 years of age in 1858. Rendered blind in his right eye from a mine
explosion (which killed his brother, who was at his side), Bouriette claimed that he
immediately went to pray to “Our Lady of the Grotto” as soon as Bernadette scratched
the soil at the dumping ground. He washed his right eye repeatedly in a very short
amount of time, praying to Our Lady fervently for a cure. After washing, his vision
returned completely, and in 1862 the cure was deemed “of supernatural character.”
3. Another cure related to restoration of vision is attributed to Blaisette Cazenave, a
woman who suffered from chronic conjunctivitis and an infection that left her eyelids
scaly and sore. Her condition was labeled incurable when she, at the age of 51, used
the water at Lourdes as a lotion on her eyes. Immediately, the scales fell from her

4. eyelids, and her vision was completely restored. Even the pain and inflammation she
suffered was entirely gone.
4. Truly inspirational in nature and a testament of the young man’s faith, Henri Busquet
was only 16 years old at the time of his cure. Suffering for over a year with a fever
attributed to the onset of tuberculosis, Busquet subsequently developed a neck abscess
that his doctor eventually lanced, but his condition only worsened. He begged his
parents for a trip to Lourdes, but they refused to take him. Persistent in his faith, he
turned to a neighbor and requested some healing water from Lourdes be brought to
him. Once they returned to him with the vial of holy water, Busquet’s family gathered to
pray together as his dressings were applied, which were soaked in water. After sleeping
that night, he awoke to discover that his ulcer had scarred over and his infection was
gone! The miracle was approved in 1862.
5. Justin was only 2 years old when he was cured at Lourdes. From birth, he was
considered a “failure to thrive case,” labeled hopeless by medical standards. Shortly
before his parents brought him to Lourdes, he contracted tuberculosis and was dying
from it. Carrying young Justin in her arms, his mother walked to the Grotto out of
desperation, knowing that she could be banished at the time, since in 1858 there was a
period of time in which the public were banned from visiting the Grotto. Even so, and
despite the outcries of people walking by, she prayed by the rock and then bathed
Justin in the hollow recently dug by laborers. As she walked home, carrying his limp
body in her arms, she realized that Justin was still breathing and then slept peacefully
through the night. Justin made a full recovery and even lived to attend Saint
Bernadette’s canonization in 1933.
6. At the age of 35, Serge Perren was diagnosed with an odd neurological condition that
affected his vision and left him unconscious at times. After being admitted to a
neurological hospital in 1964, he continued to regress to the point of total blindness and
recurrent episodes of blacking out. The prognosis was bleak. As an act of faith, Perren
made a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1969, but he returned without any progress in healing
whatsoever. Discouraged, he continued treatment, but was considered a total invalid by
medical standards. After his wife’s prompting, however, he returned to Lourdes in 1970
only to appease her. After he received the “Anointing of the Sick”, he immediately felt a
physical sensation in his body and was able to see, though unclearly. Over time, he
made a miraculous and complete recovery. Shortly thereafter, the Lourdes medical
bureau declared his healing to be “certain, instantaneous, and lasting.”
7. Vittorio Micheli was a soldier in the Alpine Corps and spent a lengthy amount of time
in a military hospital following an untreatable and inoperable diagnosis of sarcoma on
his left hip. Physicians and surgeons tried every medical option available during 1962,
but to no avail. After an entire year in the hospital, Micheli’s hip was completely
deteriorated. Even so, he chose to make the pilgrimage to Lourdes with his diocese in
1963. After bathing in the spring from his hip to foot in a cast, nothing notable happened
immediately to Micheli. However, curiously, he was required to return to the military
hospital after the pilgrimage ended, at which point various x-rays and tests clearly

5. showed physical improvements in his hip! In fact, the reports claimed it was a
“remarkable reconstruction of his hip,” and in thanksgiving, Micheli has returned to
Lourdes annually since 1963.
8. Declared a total invalid at age 51, Jean-Pierre Bely made a pilgrimage to the shrine in
1987. Bely was paralyzed by multiple sclerosis and had been in a medical condition that
completely withstood any advancements in treatment since 1972. Without despairing,
however, Bely’s faith in Our Lady as he made the pilgrimage was confirmed by his
miraculous healing. Many who accompanied him to Lourdes believed he would die
before completing the trip. He even received the Anointing of the Sick when he finally
made it to the shrine. Afterwards, however, he could immediately walk and has since
made an entire recovery.
9. After visiting the shrine in 1952, Anna Santaniello reported a complete healing of a
fatal disease she had since childhood, rheumatic heart disease. The illness had taken
the life of two of her siblings, so her prognosis was dire. At the time of her pilgrimage to
Lourdes, Santaniello was 42 years old. In 1964, the Church declared her recovery as an
“extraordinary healing,” and it was officially added to the registry of Lourdes miracles in
2004.
10. Among the most recently approved miracle at Lourdes occurred when Serge
Francois, at the age of 56, made a pilgrimage to Lourdes for healing. His left leg was left
almost completely immobile after two surgeries that left him with a herniated disc. As
with most pilgrims, Francois washed his face and drank the water from the spring at
Lourdes in April 2002, at which point the healing in his leg began to take place. After his
full recovery in 2003, Francois approached the medical board at Lourdes to investigate
his claim, which was approved in 2011 by Bishop Emmanuel Delmas of Angers, France.
11. Henriette Bressolles was a military nurse who served from 1914, the beginning of
World War I. Somehow, despite such horrific bloodshed, she came through the war
unscathed. In 1918, however, she was admitted to a military hospital with Pott’s
disease, a type of tuberculosis that appears in the spine instead of the lungs. Along with
this disease came paralysis of the intestine and bladder and a form of meningitis. From
1922 on, she was confined to a plaster body cast and subjected to numerous
treatments for her increasingly severe and complicated ailments. Over the next few
years, things only got worse. Henriette developed uremia, in which the kidneys break
down and the waste products in urine remain suspended in the blood. But on March 7,
1924, she was taken to visit Lourdes. After a visit to the grotto, she felt a “painful crack”
and within days was completed cured — and mobile.
12. Francis Pascal from Beaucaire in France was the second ever child to be healed at
Lourdes. In 1937, at the age of three, Francis developed meningitis, leaving him blind
and without any real use of his limbs. Several doctors certified his condition. He bathed
in the healing waters twice in 1938. After the second dip, before his mother even set
him down on the ground, the boy suddenly pointed a finger at a nearby tricycle on the
esplanade. His sight returned, and his limbs regained their ability to function. A 1946

6. visit to the Medical Bureau of Verifications, his first full examination, stated that “cure
confirmed, maintained for more than eight years, for which no medical explanation was
possible.” He spent much of his later life enjoying his sight by reading classical novels.
13. In 1940, 17-year-old Yvonne Fournier was working in a factory in St. Alevis, France
when a machine belt caught her left arm. She received nine subsequent operations on
the arm, but they did little — her arm was completely paralyzed. Then in 1945, Lourdes
hosted a nationwide pilgrimage, the first since World War II’s end. Some 50,000 French
Catholics visited the shrine, and Yvonne was there on the pilgrimage’s fist day, August
19. Function and feeling returned to her arm as soon as she dipped it into the water.
Her healing was one of two that the Lourdes Medical Bureau recognized that week. The
other was a case from the previous year, in which a 20-year-old Frenchwoman, just
hours from death, was cured of her lung disease.
14. In 1945, Rose Martin from Nice was diagnosed with throat cancer, and two separate
operations did little to treat her. By 1947, she was practically comatose. To take her to
Lourdes, Rose’s family had to give her heavy doses of camphor and morphine just to
make the trip bearable. It took three dips in the water for the anesthesia to wear off, and
her disease appeared to wear off along with it. She felt a distinct improvement, and she
began to move on her own power. On her return to Nice, doctors could find no trace of
her illness.
15. Sister Marie Marguerite’s cure didn’t actually happen at Lourdes, but she did have
access to the water from its grotto. This encouraged many who couldn’t get to Lourdes
but still sought its healing power — the source of such miraculous healing could
evidently be transported. In 1924, she was suffering from renal disease, angina, edema
(severe swelling) in her legs, and all of the accompanying pain. As her condition
deteriorated, those caring for her replaced all of her medications with water from
Lourdes. At the same time, the other sisters of her convent began nine days of prayer,
known as a novena, to Our Lady of Lourdes for Sister Marguerite. On the last day of the
novena, Sister Marguerite’s pain began to subside, and she completely recovered from
her illnesses. The next day, she was performing her regular duties at the convent.
16. For 13 years, Marie Savoye from Cambrai in northern France suffered from
rheumatic mitral valvular heart disease. In addition to her weak heart, she had a
constant fever and continually spat blood. In 1901, she wanted to go to Lourdes, but her
doctors said she was too ill to be placed in the actual water there. Yet that didn’t seem
to prevent her from receiving Lourdes’s healing benefits. During a ceremony for her at
Lourdes called the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, all of her symptoms suddenly
disappeared. She spent much of the remainder of her life helping others out of
appreciation for the physical and spiritual help she’d received.
17. Marie Borel was from Mende, in Lozère, in the rural, mountainous area of southeast
France. Since she was 22, she suffered repeated attacks of acute appendicitis.
Although an appendectomy in 1925 at Montpelier Hospital resolved that medical issue,
she developed a series of other stomach-related problems, including rips in her

7. intestinal tract. Complication upon complication occurred, subsequent operations were
unsuccessful, and in addition to developing two more abscesses, she experienced back
pain that prevented her from walking for almost three years. On August 21 and again on
August 22, 1907, she was immersed in the water at Lourdes. It was noted at that time
that when the bandages that covered her abscesses were removed, the abscesses
were largely healed, ultimately leading to a full recovery. Not only that, the bandages
themselves were inexplicably dry.
18. Justin Bouhort was born in Lourdes 1856, and lived there. Cured at the beginning of
July 1858 at the age of 2 years. Miracle on 18th January 1862 - without any doubt
whatever, this young boy had been ill frequently since birth. As a result by the age of 2
years, he showed a great failure to thrive, had never walked, was considered a
hopeless case. In fact, for quite a long time, he was looked upon as having a "miserable
constitution"... as being a puny and disabled little boy. At that time he was dying from
"consumption" of which his parents were the first to be aware. One day, his mother,
while watching Justin languish because nothing useful could be done for him, in
desperation made up her mind to take him to the Grotto in the late afternoon, to implore
help from the Blessed Virgin, despite the notices which prohibited the general public
from going there. On arrival, with the child in her arms and surrounded by a crowd of
curious onlookers, she prayed for a few moments in front of the Rock. Then she
decided to bathe the moribund child in the hollow recently dug by laborers. After a while,
which inevitably seemed terribly long, she lifted the child out and returned home,
carrying her son. When she arrived, Justin was still breathing feebly, but slept
peacefully; while those present feared the worst, his mother alone was more than ever
convinced that the Virgin would cure him! In the days which followed with no further sign
of a threat to his life. Justin very quickly recovered, and walked! Back to normal, he
grew up and reached adulthood. Concerning this cure, doctors who had treated him
could see nothing else than the almighty power of God.
19. Mrs. Madelaine Rizan lived in Nay (Atlantic Pyrenees) and cured in 1858, in her
58th year. Madeleine RIZAN could not get about for more than 20 years, being confined
to bed due to a leftsided paralysis, following an "attack of choera" 26 years before, in
1832. At the beginning she had difficulty moving around the home. Then she gradually
became bed-ridden, with painful bedsores and the whole range of trophic disturbances
that it was possible to imagine. Her pain was in marked contrast to her loss of
sensibility. Her doctors had long since abandoned all hope of a cure and had ceased to
treat her. In 1858, Mrs. Rizan received Extreme Unction, and from that day she prayed
for the "grace of a happy death". A month later, death seemed imminent, but the next
morning, when her daughter brought her some Lourdes' water, she drank a few sips,
and applied some to her face and body. Suddenly the illness vanished, her strength
returned, her skin regained its normal appearance and her muscles became active. The
woman dying yesterday evening, now felt she would live again. Since that day, on which
she could once again get up, dress and eat, she led a normal existence.
20. Marie Moreau lived in Tartas and cured in 1858, when nearly 17 years old. The first
cure "far away from Lourdes"; wherein at the beginning of 1858, when Marie was 16

8. years of age, she contracted an inflammatory disease of the eyes. Despite the remedies
tried, this condition led to a severe degree of visual impairment, bordering on blindness.
After her father heard of Mrs Rizan's cure, he decided to go to Lourdes to get some
water from the Grotto. In 1858, the family started a novena of prayers. In the evening,
the young girl soaked a bandage with Lourdes' water, and tied it over her eyes. The
next morning, at the moment Marie removed the bandage, she was aware that her sight
was fully restored.
21. Pierre de Rudder from Jabbeke (Belgium) was cured in 1875. It stands as the first
cure and miracle which happened without any use of Lourdes' water. In 1867, Pierre de
Rudder had his leg crushed when a tree fell down. As a result he sustained an open
fracture of both bones in the upper third of the left leg. Despite all treatment given, it
was obvious from an early stage that the fracture would never heal. Due to local
infection, and (because of it) the elimination of newly formed bone over the years, a
pseudoarthrosis set in at the site of the fracture, and there was not the slightest chance
of the bones uniting. The doctors advised amputation several times, but Pierre de
Rudder refused. After a few years, these doctors abandoned him, because they were
absolutely powerless to help his chronic condition. In this state, eight years after the
accident, Pierre de Rudder decided to make a pilgrimage to Oostacker in 1875, where a
replica of the Grotto of Lourdes had recently been built for the piety of our Belgian
Catholic neighbors. Setting off from Jabbeke in the morning as an invalid, unable to
stand on his left leg, he returned in the evening without crutches or wounds. The bones
had united in a matter of minutes, without any shortening or deviation from the vertical
axis. During the following days, the doctors who had treated him, verified these
changes. 33 years later the Bishop of Bruges declared that in the cure of Pierre de
Rudder, one could see a miracle attributable to "an intervention by God, obtained
through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary".
22. Joachime Dehant lived in Belgium and was cured in 1878. Joachime was 29 years
old when she arrived at Lourdes with an oozing and gangrenous ulcer on her right leg.
This ulcer covered two thirds of the surface of the side of the leg, and what was even
more serious was its depth, which led to a permanent contraction of the muscles,
causing a club foot. The lesion was at least ten years old, and owing to this affection
which no treatment could cure, her general state of health was very grave. The next
day, the 13th, she took baths during the morning, her leg wrapped in bandages. After
the second, there was no trace of the ulcer. The flesh and the tendons had virtually
become normal again, and the skin was new and rose-colored. And after another bath
later on, her foot returned to its normal position.
23. Elisa Seisson was cured on 1882. Miss Elisa Seisson fell ill in 1876, when she was
21 years old. The doctor treated her for 6 years for "chronic bronchitis with severe
organic heart disease". There had been no response to all treatment and her case was
considered incurable, in fact hopeless. Elisa Seisson came to Lourdes in 1882, and
went into the Baths on the first day of her pilgrimage. She came out very much
improved, having lost all the oedema of both legs. After a good night's rest, she woke up
feeling she was completely cured. Her doctor confirmed this impression.

9. 24. Sister Eugenia (Marie Mabille) was cured in 1883. This is an outstanding cure
because the clinical account of the former illness was perfectly established, due to its
long duration and the number and competence of the doctors who looked after her. In
1877, at 22 years of age, she developed an abscess, almost certainly from the
appendix, which in those days could not be cured. Two years later, evidence of
peritonitis and bilateral phlebitis appeared. In 1880, she was seen by doctor and his
opinion was that surgery was quite inappropriate in this case of "longstanding chronic
infection in the right iliac fossa, with vesical and colonic fistulae". Between 1880 and
1883, all therapeutic measures were ineffective, and her general state of ill-health only
made things worse. Although at death's door, Sister Eugenia departed for Lourdes in
1883. On arrival she was taken to the Grotto where she received Holy Communion and
sensed some relief; but it was in the afternoon at the Baths that Sister felt cured. She
came out on her own and from that moment all signs of her illness vanished. She could
walk at the first attempt and took food.
25. Sister Julienne (Aline Bruyere) was cured in 1889. This case, of cavitating
pulmonary tuberculosis, is recognised as miraculous, with a wealth of detail, difficult to
visualise in those far off days. The doctors, for their part, established that she had
suffered from a grave and incurable pulmonary disease - was cured in a completely
sudden way in the Baths at Lourdes, and remained perfectly well for more than a year.
26. Sister Josephine Marie (nee Anne Jourdain) was cured in 1890. Here is another
cure of "tuberculosis with gross apical lesions" which occurred in a young woman, born
into a family where this disease had caused the deaths of two sisters and one brother.
Ill for a long time, she was moribund by July 1890. Under obedience, she agreed to go
on pilgrimage to Lourdes, against the advice of her doctor. The journey with the
National Pilgrimage was plagued with haemoptyses. Sister Marie plunged into the
Baths. It was the next day after a second or possibly a third immersion that she felt
infinitely better and could announce her cure. The doctor who had opposed her
departure for Lourdes saw her again after she had returned to her Community, and
issued a certificate stating that the disease had completely disappeared. It established
that this cure "complete, lasting, instantaneous and obtained without any form of human
help" must be considered as a miracle.
27. Amelie Chagnon lived in Belgium and was cured in 1891. This was the first of a long
series of "bone diseases", amongst the cures recognized as miraculous in Lourdes.
Amelie was about 13 years old when tuberculous arthritis started in her left knee.
Shortly afterwards this was followed by a similar lesion (called in those days: caries...) in
the left foot. For a whole year the treatment given by two doctors proved ineffective.
When Amelie told one of them of her intention of going to Lourdes, he agreed to
postpone a surgical operation until the end of August. In 1891, these same doctors
certified that the disease had been cured without any sequelae, enabling all movements
to be carried out freely and painlessly.
28. Clementine Trouve was cured in 1891. On the very same day as the previous one

10. (A. Chagnon), another cure occurred in a young girl... slightly younger than she. The
disease was practically the same: tuberculous osteoperiostitis of the right calcaneum.
The doctor who wrote the certificate on her departure for Lourdes held the opinion that
her illness warranted a radical operation... or else, some other lengthy treatment. The
same doctor who saw Clementine again after her cure, and the Medical Bureau of
Verifications, having examined her on the same day, both certified: "that she only bore
the scarred mark" of her former illness which "was now cured".
29. Marie Lebranchu and 30. Marie Lemarchand were cured; and these two cases were
closely connected: both of them were sick pilgrims in the Paris section of the National
Pilgrimage. Both were cured on successive days, 20th and 21st of August 1892. Both
suffered from severe pulmonary tuberculosis for two years, and had reached the
terminal stages of this disease.
31. Elisa Lesage was cured in 1892. Here again is a case of tuberculosis of the right
knee, awfully common among adolescents in those days. She had had this "white
swelling" for more than a year. The doctor who treated this young girl before she went to
Lourdes, was fully aware of the well-known course of this disease, namely ankylosis of
the joint in the long-run, assuming no further spread of the disease ensued. The
unexpected cure happened after a bath, and her complete recovery was confirmed on
the same day by the Medical Bureau of Verifications "without any sequelae or
ankylosis". Sixteen years later, no recurrence had taken place.
32. Sister Marie of the Presentation was cured in 1892. A Franciscan nun from the order
of the Propagation of the Faith, she developed what the doctors called "chronic gastro-
enteritis". For twelve years this disease steadily became worse, to such an extent that
those who cared for her could not prevent "a state of absolute starvation, which would
undoubtedly end in death". Sister Marie wanted to go to Lourdes. Her doctor, and the
others looking after her, thought it useless to try to dissuade her. The journey from the
North of France in those years lasted more than two days. However the first sign of
improvement was seen in the train. This enabled her to eat a little. While she was
praying in the Rosary Basilica, she experienced for the last time "stomach pains far
worse than she had ever felt before" and then, the unexpected, sudden and total cure
happened.
33. Father Cirette was cured in 1893. In January 1892, this Catholic priest in charge of a
Parish in the Diocese Evreux, showed signs of a nervous disorder after influenza:
complete loss of ability to do anything without aid, and inability to walk, mental
confusion, difficulty with speech and memory, i.e. symptoms originating from the spinal
cord and brain. His morale was very low in the early part of 1893 due to ineffective
treatment. As there was no improvement in his health, he decided to go to Lourdes. His
own diocese was not going to Lourdes that year. Father arrived in August, but he did
not go to the Baths until the 31st - not wanting to take up a place of another sick pilgrim
who might obtain a cure there. At first, nothing particular happened. But later, after the
mid-day meal, he felt an overwhelming desire to go to the Grotto. He set off there, and
quickly realized that he had no further use for his walking sticks. He was cured in a

11. complete, sudden and unexpected way. Moreover the cure was lasting. Father was able
to take up all his activities again, working as a priest in the Parish. This cure was
attributed by his Bishop to "the intervention of a supernatural cause, which could be
none other than the Almighty Power of God".
(The other 36 Roman Catholic-approved miracles can be read at the Catholic website:
“The Miracle Hunter”; under “List of Approved Lourdes Miracles” of the Marian
Apparitions)
HOLY WATER HEALS A NUN
In 2008, a 79-year old French Catholic nun named Sister Bernadette Moriau went on a
pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. She suffered from
spinal complications which had rendered her wheelchair-bound and fully disabled since
1980 (or almost 30 years); and she took pain medications to control the pain. When
Sister Bernadette visited the Lourdes Shrine, she said she “never asked for a miracle”.
However, after attending a blessing for the sick at the shrine, something began to
change; she reported, “I felt a surge of well-being throughout my body, a relaxation,
warmth. I returned to my room and there, a voice told me to ‘take off your braces’.
Surprise! I could move!” - noting that she instantaneously walked away from her
wheelchair, braces, and pain medications.
On February 11 2019, during a Mass for the “World Day of the Sick” and the “feast day
of Our Lady of Lourdes”, the Bishop announced that the 70th miracle of Lourdes healing
was officially declared as supernatural by the Roman Catholic Church.
However, while there have been more than 7,000 miraculous recoveries attributed to
the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes at the Marian shrine (within 160 years time) -
only 70 healing cases have been officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church;
wherein in comparison to the progressive healing of Western medicine, the standard of
healing of the Roman Catholic Church for a “miraculous recovery” must generally be a
complete, spontaneous, and immediate healing from a documented medical condition.
Many believers experience “Lourdes water” as helping to improve their health, but there
is a risk that sick people may stop taking scientifically based treatments and
medications if they have too much confidence in “placebos” (or a harmless pill,
medicine, or procedure prescribed more for the psychological benefit to the patient than
for any physiological effect).
However, Saint Bernadette herself said that people were healed by their faith and
healing prayers through the intercession of Mother Mary to her son, Jesus Christ.
(researched)

12. (additional information): "List of Approved Lourdes Miracles" (70 healing miracles
approved by Roman Catholic Church attributed to the "Lourdes water" of the Our Lady
of Lourdes shrine in France, Europe); praise be to you Mother Mary (The Immaculate
Conception & Immaculate Heart) for proving to be co-redemptrix, mediatrix and
advocate with Lord Jesus Christ your son, through your Marian Apparitions that healed
the physical and spiritual health of many people! Our loving mother in heaven!
http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/lourdes/miracle
s1.html