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[[Image:Mary at Lourdes.jpg|left]]

[[Image:Mary at Lourdes.jpg|left]]

'''Lourdes''', France, is the site of a shrine to [[Virgin Mary|Mary]], the mother of [[Jesus]], in honor of a reported series of 18 apparitions in 1858 by her to Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl.  [[Miraculous]] healings were attributed to wading in a spring that appeared.  By 1862 the local authorities of the [[Catholic Church]] had recognized the belief by building a church above the grotto.

'''Lourdes''', France, is the site of a shrine to [[Virgin Mary|Mary]], the mother of [[Jesus]], in honor of a reported series of 18 apparitions in 1858 by her to Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl.  [[Miraculous]] healings were attributed to wading in a spring that appeared.  By 1862 the local authorities of the [[Catholic Church]] had recognized the belief by building a church above the grotto. It's beauty has been used throughout the ages as proof of God's magnificence by many religious scholars.<ref>

From 1883 to 1901 there was the construction of a magnificent church named the Church of the [[Rosary]], which is the destination of millions of pilgrims, many seeking cures for ailments or conversion by submerging oneself into the soothing spring.

From 1883 to 1901 there was the construction of a magnificent church named the Church of the [[Rosary]], which is the destination of millions of pilgrims, many seeking cures for ailments or conversion by submerging oneself into the soothing spring.