LOURDES: MIRACLES AND THE MIRACULOUSLY HEALED

The grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes where the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette on 18 occassions from 11 February 1858 to 16 July 1858

Lourdes is well-known for its miracles and whenever we talk about Lourdes, we just couldn't help talking about its miracles. When the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette on 18 occassions in the year 1858, Lourdes was only a small village. For more than a century, numerous miracles have transformed this "village of miracles" into one of the greatest Marian shrines in the world. Every year, millions of pilgrims from all over the world visit the shrine of Lourdes particularly during the months of April to October.

How and when did the miracles of Lourdes begin? During the 9th apparition on 25 February 1858, Our Lady instructed Bernadette to drink from the spring and wash herself there. Bernadette could not see the spring at first and she went to drink from the river. Following Our Lady's instructions, she dug a hole in the ground using her hands. Soon, water began to gush out from the rock in the ground. Bernadette drank the water and washed her face with it. News of the first miraculous cures soon began to spread even while the apparitions were still taking place and those who were healed claimed that the water from the spring had healing properties. Since then, the spring has become very popular because of the many miraculous cures associated with it. For the sick and handicapped, Lourdes is a place of hope because of the miraculous healing properties of the spring water.

The miraculous spring at the back of the grotto

What is Lourdes water and where does it come from? It comes from the spring at the back of the grotto which is protected by an illuminated glass plate. Today, this miraculous spring which was discovered by Bernadette more than 150 years ago, could generate as much as 14500 gallons of water daily.

Although there are more than 8000 miracle cures attributed to the Lourdes Shrine since 1858, only 67 cases (as of 2007) have been recognized by the Catholic Church. In this article, I would like to share these 67 miraculous healings with my readers. Below is a list of these 67 cases of unexplained cures in Lourdes in chronological order.


LIST OF MIRACULOUS CURES IN LOURDES APPROVED BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER)

1. Mrs Catherine Latapie of Loubajac, France
Illness: Ulnar paralysis due to the traumatic stretching of the brachial plexus for a period of 18 months.
Date of healing: 1 Mac 1858
Date of recognition: 18 January 1862

2. Mr Louis Bouriette of Lourdes, France
Illness: Twenty-year-old injury to the right eye, complete loss of vision for a period of 2 years.
Date of healing: March 1858
Date of recognition: 18 January 1862

3. Mrs Blaisette Cazenave of Lourdes, France
Illness: Chemosis or chronic infection of the conjunctivae and eyelids with bilateral ectropion for a period of 3 years.
Date of healing: March 1858
Date of recognition: 18 January 1862

4. Mr Henri Busquet of Nay, France
Illness: Abscess in the neck, purulent adenitis at the base of the neck for a period of 15 months.
Date of healing: 29 April 1858
Date of recognition: 18 January 1862

5. Mr Justin Bouhort of Lourdes, France
Illness: Chronic post-infective malnutrition with retarded motor development and was dying from tuberculosis at the age of 2.
Date of healing: 6 July 1858
Date of recognition: 18 January 1862

6. Mrs Madeleine Rizan of Nay, France
Illness: Left hemiplegia for 24 years following an attack of cholera
Date of healing: 17 October 1858
Date of recognition: 18 January 1862

7. Miss Marie Moreau of Tartas, France
Illness: Severe visual impairment with inflammatory lesions especially in the right eye, over a period of 10 months.
Date of healing: 9 November 1858
Date of recognition: 18 January 1862

8. Mr Pierre de Rudder of Jabbeke, Belgium
Illness: Pierre de Rudder's leg was crushed by a falling tree and he sustained an open fracture in the left leg. The doctors recomended amputation but he refused. There was nothing else that the doctors could do for him.
Date of healing: 7 April 1875
Date of recognition: 25 July 1908

9. Miss Joachime Dehant of Gesves, Belgium
Illness: Gangrenous ulcer on her right leg.
Date of healing: 13 September 1878
Date of recognition: 25 April 1908

10. Miss Elisa Seisson of Rognonas, France
Illness: Cardiac hypertrophy with oedema of both legs.
Date of healing: 29 August 1882
Date of recognition: 2 July 1912

11. Sister Eugenia of Bernay, France
Illness: Abscess in the right iliac fossa with vesical and colonic fistulae, peritonitis and bilateral phlebitis.
Date of healing: 21 August 1883
Date of recognition: 30 August 1908

12. Sister Julienne of La Roque, France
Illness: Cavitating pulmonary tuberculosis - an incurable pulmonary disease.
Date of healing: 1 September 1889
Date of recognition: 7 March 1912

13. Sister Josephine Marie of Goincourt, France
Illness: Pulmonary tuberculosis with apical lesions
Date of healing: 21 August 1890
Date of recognition: 10 October 1908

14. Miss Amelie Chagnon of Poitiers, France
Illness: Tuberculous arthritis of the left knee and second metatarsal of the left foot.
Date of healing: 21 August 1891
Date of recognition: 8 September 1910

15. Miss Clementine Trouve of Rouille, France
Illness: Tuberculous osteoperiostitis of the right foot with fistula.
Date of healing: 21 August 1891
Date of recognition: 6 June 1908

16. Mrs Marie Lebranchu of Paris, France
Illness: Pulmonary tuberculosis with Koch's bacillus present in the sputum
Date of healing: 20 August 1892
Date of recognition: 6 June 1908

17. Mrs Marie Lemarchand of Caen, France
Illness: Pulmonary tuberculosis with tuberculous ulcerated areas on her face and legs.
Date of healing: 21 August 1892
Date of recognition: 6 June 1908

18. Miss Elisa Lesage of Bucquoy, France
Illness: Tuberculosis of the right knee.
Date of healing: 21 August 1892
Date of recognition: 4 February 1908

19. Sister Marie de la Presentation of Lille, France
Illness: Chronic tuberculous gastroenteritis.
Date of healing: 29 August 1892
Date of recognition: 15 August 1908

20. Abbott Cirette of Beaumontel, France
Illness: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis of the spinal cord.
Date of healing: 31 August 1893
Date of recognition: 11 February 1907

21. Miss Aurelie Huprelle of St-Martin-le-Noeud, France
Illness: Acute cavitating pulmonary tuberculosis.
Date of healing; 21 August 1895
Date of recognition: 1 May 1908

22. Miss Esther Brachmann of Paris, France
Illness: Pulmonary tuberculosis with tuberculous peritonitis.
Date of healing: 21 August 1896
Date of recognition: 6 June 1908

23. Miss Jeanne Tulasne of Tours, France
Illness: Pott's Disease (tuberculosis spondylitis) in the lumbar spine with neurogenic clubfoot.
Date of healing: 8 September 1897
Date of recognition: 27 October 1907

24. Miss Clementine Malot of Gaudechart, France
Illness: Pulmonary tuberculosis with hemoptysis.
Date of healing: 21 August 1898
Date of recognition: 1 November 1908

25. Mrs Rose Francois of Paris, France
Illness: Lymphangitis of the right arm with edema.
Date of healing: 20 August 1899
Date of recognition: 6 June 1908

26. Reverend Father Salvator of Rouelle, France
Illness: Pulmonary tuberculosis with tuberculous peritonitis.
Date of healing: 25 June 1900
Date of recognition: 1 July 1908

27. Sister Maximilien of Marseille, France
Illness: Hydatid cyst of the liver with phlebitis of the left leg
Date of healing: 20 May 1901
Date of recognition: 5 February 1908

28. Miss Marie Savoye of Cateau Cambresis,France
Illness: Severe rheumatic mitral valvular disease.
Date of healing: 20 September 1901
Date of recognition: 15 August 1908

29. Mrs Johanna Bezenac of St-Laurent-des-Batons, France
Illness: Cachexia and lupus tuberculosis of the face
Date of healing: 8 August 1904
Date of recognition: 2 July 1908

30. Sister Saint-Hilaire of Peylereau, France
Illness: Chronic gastroenteritis with abdominal tumour.
Date of healing: 20 August 1904
Date of recognition: 10 May 1908

31. Sister Saint-Beatrix of Evreux, France
Illness: Laryngeal-bronchitis due to tuberculosis.
Date of healing: 31 August 1904
Date of recogniiton: 25 March 1908

32. Miss Marie-Therese Noblet of Avenay, France
Illness: Pott's disease, also known as tuberculous spondylitis.
Date of healing: 31 August 1905
Date of recogniiton: 11 February 1908

33. Miss Cecile Douville De Franssu of Tournai, Belgium
Illness: Tuberculous peritonitis
Date of healing: 21 September 1905
Date of recogniiton: 8 Ecember 1909

34. Miss Antonia Moulin of Vienne, France
Illness: Fistulous osteomyelitis of the right leg with arthritis in the knee.
Date of healing: 10 August 1907
Date of recogniiton: 6 November 1910

35. Miss Marie Borel of Mende, France
Illness: Fistulas in the lumbar and abdominal region.
Date of healing; 21/22 August 1907
Date of recognition: 4 June 1911

36. Miss Virginie Haudebourg of Lons-le-Saulnier, France
Illness: Tuberculous cystitis and nephritis.
Date of healing: 17 May 1907
Date of recogniiton: 25 November 1912

37. Mrs Marie Bire of St-Gemme-la-Plaine, France
Illness: Blindness from bilateral optic atrophy of cerebral origin.
Date of healing: 5 August 1908
Date of recogniiton: 30 July 1910

38. Miss Aimee Allope of Vern, France
Illness: Multiple tuberculosis abscesses with four fistulas in the anterior abdominal wall.
Date of healing: 28 May 1909
Date of recogniiton: 5 August 1910

39. Miss Juliette Orion of St-Hilaire-de-Voust, France
Illness: Pulmonary and laryngeal tuberculosis, left suppurative mastoiditis.
Date of healing: 22 July 1910
Date of recognition: 18 October 1913

40. Miss Marie Fabre of Montredon, France
Illness: Dyspepsia and mucomembranous enteritis in addition to uterine prolapse.
Daye of healing: 26 September 1911
Date of recogniiton: 8 September 1912

41. Miss Henriette Bressolles of Nice, France
Illness: Pott's disease of the spine with paraplegia.
Date of healing: 3 July 1924
Date of recognition: 4 June 1957

42. Miss Lydia Brosse of Saint-Raphael, France 
Illness: Multiple tuberculous fistulas with wide undermining in the left buttock.
Date of healing: 11 October 1930
Date of recognition: 5 August 1958

43. Sister Marie-Marguerite of Rennes, France 
Illness: Abcess of the left kidney with phlyctenular edema and cardiac crises.
Date of healing: 22 January 1937
Date of recognition: 20 May 1946

44. Miss Louise Jamain of Paris, France 
Illness: Pulmonary, intestinal and peritoneal tuberculosis.
Date of healing: 1 April 1937
Date of recognition: 14 December 1951

45. Mr Francis Pascal of Beaucaire, France
Illness: Loss of vision and paralysis of the lower limbs.
Date of healing: 31 August 1938
Date of recognition: 31 May 1949

46. Miss Gabrielle Clauzel of Oran, Algeria
Illness: Rheumatoid spondylosis.
Date of healing: 15 August 1943
Date of recognition: 18 March 1948

47. Miss Yvonne Fournier of Limoges, France
Illness: Extending and progressive traumatic syndrome of the upper left arm (Leriche's syndrome).
Date of healing: 19 August 1945
Date of recognition: 14 November 1959

48. Mrs Rose Martin of Nice, France
Illness: Cancer of the uterine cervix
Date of healing: 3 July 1947
Date of recognition: 17 March 1958

49. Mrs Jeanne Gestas of Begles, France
Illness: Dyspeptic disorders with post-operative obstructive incidents
Date of healing: 22 August 1947
Date of recognition: 13 July 1952

50. Miss Marie-Therese Canin of Marseille, France
Illness: Pott's Disease and fistulated tuberculous peritonitis with fistulas.
Date of healing: 9 October 1947
Date of recognition: 6 June 1952

51. Miss Maddalena Carini of San Remo, Italy.
Illness: Peritoneal tuberculosis, pleuro-pulmonary tuberculosi and bone tuberculosis with coronary disease.
Date of healing: 15 August 1948
Date of recognition: 2 June 1960

52. Miss Jeanne Fretel of Rennes, France
Illness: Tuberculous peritonitis.
Date of healing: 8 October 1948
Date of recognition: 20 November 1950

53. Miss Angele Thea of Tettnang, Germany
Illness: Multiple sclerosis for a period of six years.
Date of healing: 20 Mar 1950
Date of recognition: 28 June 1961

54. Mr Evasio Ganora of Casale, Italy.
Illness: Hodgkin's Disease.
Date of healing: 2 June 1950
Date of recognition: 31 May 1955

55. Miss Edeltraud Fulda of Vienne, Austria.
Illness: Addison's Disease.
Date of healing: 12 August 1950
Date of recognition: 18 May 1955

56. Mr Paul Pellegrin of Toulon, France
Illness: Postoperative fistula following abscess of liver
Date of healing: 3 October 1950
Date of recognition: 8 December 1953

57. Brother Leo Schwager of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Illness: Multiple sclerosis for a period of five years.
Date of healing: 30 April 1952
Date of recognition: 18 December 1960

58. Mrs Alice Couteault of Bouille-Loretz, France
Illness: Multiple sclerosis for a period of three years.
Date of healing: 15 May 1952
Date of recognition: 16 July 1956

59. Miss Marie Bigot of La Richardais (France)
Illness: Arachnoiditis in the posterior fossa
Date of healing: 10 October 1954
Date of recognition: 15 August 1956

60. Mrs Ginette Nouvel of Carmaux, France
Illness: Budd-Chiari syndrome
Date of healing: 21 September 1954
Date of recognition: 31 May 1963

61. Miss Elisa Aloi of Patti, Italy
Illness: Tuberculous arthritis of the right leg with bone fistulas.
Date of healing: 5 June 1958
Date of recognition: 26 May 1965

62. Miss Juliette Tamburini from Marseille, France
Illness: Femoral osteoperiostitis with fistulas and epistaxis for a period of ten years.
Date of healing: 17 July 1959)
Date of recognition: 11 May 1965

63. Mr Vittorio Micheli from Scurelle, Italy
Illness: Sarcoma of left hip
Date of healing: 1 June 1963
Date of recognition: 26 May 1976

64. Mr Serge Perrin from Lion d' Angers, France
Illness: Recurring right hemiplegia with ocular lesions due to insufficiency of cerebral circulation.
Date of healing: 1 may 1970
Date of recognition: 17 June 1978

65. Miss Delizia Cirolli from Paterno, Italy
Illness: Sarcoma of the right knee.
Date of healing: 24 December 1976
Date of recognition: 28 June 1989

66. Mr Jean-Pierre Bely from La Couronne, France
Illness: Multiple sclerosis for a period of fifteen years.
Date of healing: 9 October 1987
Date of recognition: 9 February 1999

67. Mrs Anna Santaniello of Salerno, Italy
Illness: Rheumatic heart disease with mitral valve stenosis.
Date of healing: 19 August 1952
Date of recognition: 21 September 2005


Thanks for reading. You may also like to read LOURDES: THE GROTTO OF MASSABIELLE and CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS IN LOURDES. To view the content page of this blog, please click here. 



References:
1.  Lourdes by Antonio Bernardo. Doucet Publications, Lourdes.
2.  Lourdes & Bernadette by Antonio Bernardo. Publisher "il Calamo"