THE CASTLE OF LOURDES

The Fortified Castle of Lourdes

Lourdes is dominated by its historic castle, the Chateau Fort of Lourdes, in the Hautes-Pyrenees Departement of France. Built on a rocky promontory overlooking the town of Lourdes, this immense castle has witnessed battles, bloodshed, sieges and destruction for centuries. Because of its strategic position at the entrance of the seven valleys of the Lavedan, the castle has played a prominent role in the history of Lourdes. It was first used by the Romans as a military encampment and was gradually enlarged and strengthened with the passage of time. For centuries, this fortified castle has remained virtually impregnable. Located on the right bank of the Gave de Pau, a river of south-western France, this medieval castle was also known as "Mirambel" during the middle ages. From the castle, visitors can enjoy a panoramic view of the town of Lourdes.

A panoramic view of the town of Lourdes from the castle

The beautiful town of Lourdes (view from the castle)

The Gave de Pau river running through Lourdes (view from the castle)

A beautiful view of the Basilica of Saint Pius X from the castle

The Castle of Lourdes and its surrounding areas have a very interesting history which dates back to the Roman Era. The Vandals invaded Gaul (France) in the year 406. This ancient "barbarian" Germanic tribe not only massacred the elderly, women, and children, but also razed to the ground everything they found in their path. The Visigoths who invaded Gaul after the Vandals laid siege to the castle, took control of it, and used it to strengthen their defenses. The castle was occupied by the Saracens in the 8th Century after they were defeated by Charles Martel at Poitiers in 732. In 778, Charlemagne laid siege to the castle occupied by the Saracens and captured it. According to a legend, Mirat the Saracen leader, was about to surrender due to starvation when an eagle dropped a trout at his feet. The coat of arms of Lourdes, which consists of an eagle with a trout in its beak perching on a castle, still bears witness to this legend. Here the story goes:

The Eagle and the Trout

In 778 AD, the year of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, the Charlemagne besieged the fortress of Lourdes, occupied by the Saracens. As they were on the brink of starvation, an eagle flew above the castle with a trout in its beak and dropped it at the feet of Mirat, the Saracen leader. Mirat sent the trout to Charlemagne with the message that he still had lots of food and would never starve. Charlemagne was about to give up the siege when the Bishop of Le Puy-en-Velay suggested that Mirat should surrender, not to the emperor, but to the Mother of God. And of course he did. Mirat and his men not only surrendered to Charlemagne but to the Blessed Virgin Mary and were converted. Mirat was baptised and took the Christian name of Lorus. He became the governor of Lourdes and the town was named was named after him, which in the course of time, became known as Lourdes. 

In 841, the Castle of Lourdes was attacked by the Normans but they failed to capture it. However, the castle was subsequently occupied by the Albigenses, French, and English. In 1195, the castle became the property of the viscount of Tartas after which it was passed from hand to hand. In 1216, Simon de Montfort tried to take the castle but his attempt failed after a short siege. In 1314, Charles the Fair restructured and fortified the castle to enhance the region's defence capability. In 1322, he became the King of France (Charles IV) and the castle became crown property. In 1361, during the Hundred Years' War, Bigorre was ceded to the Prince of Wales who also known as the black prince. He entrusted the castle to Peter-Arnold and John of Bearn who set about looting the area with the Gascon mercenaries. Attempts to besiege the castle by the duke of Anjou and Du Guesclin in 1373 failed and it was not until 1377 that Gaston Phoebus was able to recapture the castle for the Emperor of France. However, the English were not completely driven out until 1407.

The Count of Clermont seized the castle during the conquest of the "seven valleys" in the year 1404 but returned it to the Emperor of France, Charles IV, in 1406. In 1425, the castle became the property of the House of Foix. The castle also had a prominent role to play when the Wars of Religion between the Catholics of Bigorre and the Huguenots were raging throughout the country from March 1562 to April 1598. During this period of violence, the town of Lourdes was captured and recaptured, plundered and pillaged. In 1607, when Bigorre became part of France and peace was restored, the castle became crown property. The Emperor of France, Henry IV of Navarre from the House of Bourbon, commissioned the restoration of this castle.

During the French Revolution and the reign of Napoleon, the castle became a state prison, where famous inmates were imprisoned, and these include the Duke of Mazarin, the French philosopher Maine de Biran and General Bourbaki. In the Nineteenth Century, the castle was converted into army barracks. The municipal administration of Lourdes bought the castle for 50000 gold francs in 1893.

Following extensive restoration in 1921, the castle was transformed into a beautiful Pyrenean Museum under the initiative of Louis Le Bondidier and his wife, Margalide. As stated by Louis Le Bondidier, "nothing that is from the Pyrenees should be foreign to us" which is clearly proven by the "pyreneism" of the museum and its intention to revive the art and traditions of this great historical period. The exhibits of the museum include traditional costumes, furniture, agriculture tools, crockery, musical instruments, artifacts, and everyday objects. Visitors can also see a reconstructed Bearn kitchen and Bigourdan bedroom of the 19th Century. These excellent historical displays enable the visitors to explore and discover the cultural richness of Lourdes over the centuries. The Castle of Lourdes, which symbolizes the history of the town of Lourdes, was listed as a National Heritage Site by the French Ministry of Culture in 1933. Now completely restored, it is one of the most visited museums of traditional arts and crafts in France.

Chateau Fort Pyrenean Museum

Chateau Fort Pyrenean Museum

Chateau Fort Pyrenean Museum

Chateau Fort Pyrenean Museum

Chateau Fort Pyrenean Museum

There are lifts to take the visitors up to the main terrace of the castle. Alternatively, visitors can take the 156 steps Saracens' Staircase and enter through the Charlemagne gate or the Assommoir gate. From the castle terrace, visitors can see the magnificent views of the sanctuaries of Lourdes, the Gave de Pau, the town of Lourdes and the Pyrenees. The crenellated tower is 24 metres high and there is a 104 steps curving staircase to take visitors to the top of the tower. And do remember to visit the "Our Lady of the Castle" chapel. You will be able to see some of the gilt-covered wooden statues from the original parish church of Lourdes which was destroyed by fire and demolished in 1905. These include the Madonna with child, St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, St. James of Compostela and St. Lucy.

View from the castle terrace

 View from the castle with the Pyrenees in the background

 View from the castle terrace

Within the walls of the castle, there is also a beautiful botanical garden. At the central courtyard of the castle, you will be able to see the beautifully designed miniature reproductions of historic Bigorre and Bearn abbeys, castles and monuments.

Miniature historical reproduction

Miniature historical reproduction

A very nice reproduction of Bigorre

Miniature historical reproduction

Miniature historical reproduction

The castle is within walking distance from the center of the town but I have never walked there before as I preferred to take the Little Train of Lourdes. It is a very interesting place and really worth visiting.Believe me, you'll love everything that you see there.

You may also like to read LOURDES: THE PIC DU JER AND THE FUNICULAR. To read more about Lourdes, please click here to view the content page of this blog. There is a complete list of my articles about Lourdes on this page.


References:
1.  Lourdes and Bernadette by Antonio Bernardo. Publisher "il Calamo"
2.  Discover Lourdes. MSM.
3.  Lourdes: Apparitions, Message, Pilgrimage. MSM.
4.  Lourdes: In Bernadette's Footsteps. MSM.
5.  Lourdes History. Editions A. Doucet - Lourdes.
6.  Lourdes by Antonio Bernardo. Doucet Publications.

MURDER AT GOLGOTHA - REVISITING THE MOST FAMOUS CRIME SCENE IN HISTORY

12th Station, The Way of the Cross, Lourdes

More than two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ was murdered in cold blood, in broad daylight, between A.D. 30 and 33. The famous crime scene is known as Golgotha, which means "Skull" in Aramaic, a skull-shaped hill located immediately outside the walls of Jerusalem.


In the Garden of Gethsemane
The night before his crucifixion, Jesus underwent agony in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was betrayed and arrested. While praying in the garden, Jesus experienced hematohidrosis, an extremely rare medical condition which resulted in the excretion of blood in the sweat.

In His anguish he prayed with all the greater 
intensity, and His sweat became like drops of

blood falling to the ground. (Luke 22:44)

Luke, a physician by profession, had written in his testimony, that Jesus' sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood. Why did Jesus "sweat blood?" According to the renowned Dr. Frederick Thomas Zugibe, formerly the chief medical examiner of Rockland County (1969-2003) and one of the most prominent forensic experts in the United States, this condition is known as hematohidrosis and is associated with extremely severe mental / emotional distress due to intense anxiety and fear. When Jesus was in great spiritual agony knowing that He would be sentenced to death and nailed to the cross, He experienced a classic "fight or flight" response. Under such circumstances, His body released adrenaline (the fight or flight hormone) which would have made His heart beat faster, increased His blood flow, and caused His blood sugar levels to spike.  He would have breathed faster to increase His oxygen intake and this would have been followed by extreme physical tiredness. His blood vessels first constricted (under intense anxiety) and then dilated to the point of rupture (when the anxiety passed out). When the blood vessels around his sweat glands ruptured, the blood, having mixed with sweat, oozed out from His skin. Needless to say, the loss of both blood and sweat this way would have left Him dehydrated in Gethsemane but this was just the beginning of His sufferings. 

The Trial of Jesus 

After His agony, Jesus was led from the Garden of Gethsemane to Annas, the  former high priest and father-in-law of the high priest, Caiaphas . Whenever Jesus made a pertinent remark, such as saying how openly He had taught in the synagogues or temple areas, the guards standing nearby stepped in to give Him a good beating.

At this reply, one of the guards who was 
standing nearby gave Jesus a sharp blow 
on the face, "Is that the way to answer 
the high priest?" he said.
(John 18:22)

Annas then sent him firmly bound to the high priest, Caiaphas. According to the Matthew, Mark, and Luke versions of the Bible, Caiaphas ultimately asked Jesus the major question of whether he was the Messiah, the Son of God.

Jesus answered: It is you who say it. But 
I tell you this: Soon you will see the Son of 
Man seated at the right hand of the Power 
and coming on the clouds of heaven. 
(Matthew 26:64)

At this the high priest reportedly tore His robes as a ritual token that Jesus had signed His own death warrant. He pronounced that as Jesus had blasphemed, they needed no further witnesses. All those present on the interrogation side that night had collectively agreed that Jesus deserved the death penalty. 

Then they began to spit in His face and hit him.

Others slapped Him, saying: "Play the prophet 
for us, Messiah! Who struck you?"

(Matthew 26:67-68)

The Matthew, Mark, and Luke versions have all indicated that the guards behaved violently towards Jesus whilst the interrogators did nothing to stop them. At daybreak, Jesus was bound and handed over to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate to be tried. Due to pressure from the crowd, he sentenced Jesus to be scourged and then crucified.


The Scourging of Jesus: Visions of the 19th-century German nun, Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824)

Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich possessed the gift of seeing the past, present and future and in a series of ecstatic visions in 1823, she beheld Jesus' last supper, His agony in Gethsemane, His arrest and trials, the way of the cross and His crucifixion. It was Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich's visions of Jesus' passion that inspired Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ. What happened during the scourging of Jesus? According to her: 

The executioners arrived, carrying whips, rods, and ropes... There were six of them.... They looked like wild beasts or demons, and appeared to be intoxicated... Two furious ruffians who were bloodthirsty began to scourge His sacred body from head to toe in the most barbarous manner ... Our Lord writhed like a worm under the blows of these savage beasts... A strong bright red liquid was brought to them... they became greatly drunk and intoxicated thus increasing their cruelty tenfold towards our Lord. They continued to strike our Lord for a quarter of an hour.... Jesus was bleeding profusely and His body was entirely covered with black, blue and red marks.... These two ruffians were succeeded by two others who made use of different rods, thorny sticks covered with knots and splinters.... The blows from these sticks tore our Lord's flesh to pieces.... His blood spurted around and stained their arms.... They were replaced by two fresh executioners whose scourges were made of small chains, or straps covered with iron hooks, which tore off large pieces of flesh and skin at every blow... The body of our Lord was completely torn to shreds... The terrible scourging lasted for three-quarters of an hour.

Jesus Was Sentenced to Death

Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, is the only movie which clearly shows the emotion, pain and passion of the crucifixion of Jesus as it retells the last twelve hours of Jesus' life on Earth in great detail. Many critics are of the opinion that this movie may be too bloody and violent but, according to the visions of Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich, that was exactly how our Lord was tortured to death. I really can't imagine how Jesus could endure all the pain and sufferings in His passion. The scourging had rendered Him a very pitiful sight with His entire body wracked with pain and covered in bleeding crisscrossing canals. The scourges which ripped and punctured his flesh caused blood to ooze out from breaks in the skin all over His body. However, the Roman soldiers still had not finished with Him. According to the Gospel of John:

The soldiers then wove a crown of thorns and 
fixed it on His head, throwing around His 
shoulders a cloak of royal purple. Repeatedly 
they came up to Him and said, "All hail, 
King of the Jews!", slapping His face as 
they did so. (John 19:2-3)

One of the sadistic Roman soldiers hit on the idea of making a mock crown out of some thorn branches and then jammed it into Jesus' head to make fun of Him. He even threw an old cloak over Jesus' bloody shoulders, as a "royal robe" and paid Him mock homage saying "All hail, King of the Jews" to complete his action. In all history, Jesus is the only individual ever recorded to be given such a mockery and derision. It is all too painful to imagine how the innocent Jesus who was in intense pain could be treated in such an inhumane way.

Was Jesus subjected to further violent and inhuman punishment before he was crucified? Definitely. The mocking "King of the Jews" cloak was removed from Him and His own clothes was put back on Him. No doubt, this would inevitably reopen all His wounds and cause more bleeding. He was then made to carry the large crossbeam on which He would be crucified. The soldiers led Him out of the Praetorium on what would be His final journey - along the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha. During His journey to Golgotha, He was again beaten by the guards. He was so weak that Simon of Cyrene had to carry the cross with Him.

What was crucifixion like during the Roman Empire? First, the victim was stripped of his clothing. Just imagine how painful it is when a bandage is pulled very strongly from our bleeding skin and how many times worse this would be if the bandage is large enough to totally cover the entire body! Stripping Jesus of His clothing was equivalent to ripping off the bandage stuck to His wounds forcefully and since that was not the first time they did it, reopening all His wounds again and again causing excessive bleeding would certainly be much too painful for Him to bear.

The next stage of the Roman crucifixion procedure was to nail the victim to the cross. To support the weight of an adult body on the cross, strong and heavy nails of at least six inches long had to be used. Unlike what we often see in the crucifixion pictures, Jesus was nailed to the cross via His wrists rather than His palms as the former would be unable to support His weight. Driving the nails into His wrists would have injured the median nerve and caused extreme pain, a condition known as causalgia. According to Dr. Frederick Zugibe: 

The pain is exquisite and equivalent to an
incessant, burning or searing sensation 
that is so intense that even gentle contacts
like clothing or air drafts can cause utter
torture. The pain is unbearable, like a
lightning bolt traversing the arm. Victims 
of  causalgia often go into profound shock
if the pain is not alleviated promptly.

Needless to say, lifting up the crossbeam with Jesus hanging from it would have triggered even greater pain! What would have been the effect of nailing Jesus' ankles to the cross? The discovery of the remains of Jehohanan (a victim of crucifixion) in Giv'at ha-Mivtar shed some light on this. His legs were spread and let to dangle either side of the cross and his ankles were then nailed to these sides. Hammering one nail through each ankle would certainly have been as devastating on Jesus' nerves as driving the nails into His wrists as the pain would have been as unbearable as the causalgia caused by His wrist injuries. That was how Jesus was crucified - even though He had done nothing wrong but heal, teach, and preach the good news of the kingdom of God.

For further reading about the passion of Jesus, please refer to Ian Wilson's Murder at Golgotha - a direct reaction to Mel Gibson's much-talked-about movie The Passion of the Christ. This book gives a marvelously detailed account of the last moments of Jesus' earthly life. 

You may also like to read LOURDES PILGRIMAGE - GOING UP CALVARY HILL WITH JESUS. To view the content page of this blog, please click here.



References:
1.  Wilson, Ian. (2006). Murder at Golgotha: Revisiting the Most Famous Crime Scene in History. New York: St. Martin's Press.
2.  Emmerich, Anne Catherine. (1923). The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. New York: Dover Publications.
3.  Zugibe, Frederick T. (2005) The Crucifixion of Jesus: A Forensic Inquiry. New York: M. Evans and Company, Inc.
4.  The New American Bible. New York: Thomas Nelson Publishers.