Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes Begins
On February 11, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous in a cave at Massabielle near Lourdes, France. By July 16, she had appeared 18 times and proclaimed that she was the Immaculate Conception. In 1862, the Church confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions. The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes became worldwide in 1907. Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and healing, but even more of faith. The water of Lourdes is readily available to all pilgrims, and Church authorities have documented over 60 miraculous cures as well as conversions to the faith because of these miracles. Our Lady of Lourdes is the patroness of sick people and bodily ills. Novena Dates February 2-10, Feast Day February 11 Opening Prayer (To be prayed each day at the beginning of the novena of by itself for a shorter version of the novena) Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest your shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Gro...