Massabielle Grotto — Attraction in Argelès-Gazost

Source: www.profil.at/home/mirakel-makel-lourdes-co-die-fakten-wundern-200716

MIRAKEL WITH MAKEL

The LEGEND .... Believers from all over the world think that Saint-Bernadette saw Virgin Mary and her body stayed nearly looking alive.

REALITY and HISTORICAL FACTS However, the miracle of the intact corpse has a flaw: it is fictitious. In 1907, the bishop's informative process for the beatification of Bernadette Soubirous was initiated. The procedure required the canonical identification of the body. In this context, Bernadette's body, which had been buried in a soldered lead coffin in 1879, was exhumed three times: on September 22, 1909, on April 3, 1919 and on April 18, 1925. Her body was as hollow as cardboard. After the first exhumation, doctors Jourdan and David, who had been commissioned to examine the body, noted that the facial skin was lying on the bones and the body was brown-black in color, rigid like parchment and sounded as hollow as cardboard when struck.The pattern of veins could still be seen on the forearms. The hands and feet were waxy. This description is almost classic, especially the wood-cardboard-like sound, according to the Swiss forensic pathologist Walter Marty, an expert in the field of preserved corpses. The fact that the pattern of veins was still recognizable is explained by the fact that the subcutaneous fat had disappeared. The brown-black discoloration is found on all so-called rotting corpses and is caused by the breakdown of haemoglobin. Lead-lined coffins are known to prevent decomposition. After the second exhumation, doctors Talon and Comte noted that the body was mummified, had mold stains and was covered with a layer of salt. The two doctors were presented with a similar picture six years later: the corpse was neither decomposed nor decayed. However, the waxy skin had suffered from the moisture, had turned gray and flaked off in some places. According to Marty, the description shows that the decomposition processes had been accelerated by the previous coffin openings. This is the natural course of rotting corpse preservation. Professor Thomas Schaffner from the Institute of Pathology at the University of Bern commented on photos showing the face and hands of Bernadette's corpse with the words: "The colors and structure can only have one explanation: an artistic representation in wax that would be worthy of inclusion in the wax museum. The assumption is correct. As they wanted to make Bernadette's mortal remains accessible to the faithful before her beatification, there was a problem: her mummified face could have had a repulsive effect on the public. So the Parisian fashion company Pierre Imans was commissioned to produce a wax face mask and hands. Imans was famous for copying celebrities from politics, film and theater as wax figures, who then presented the latest creations in the shop windows. But it is not only the mortal remains of Bernadette Soubirous that are flawed, the miraculous story of the visionary of Lourdes is also flawed. At their core, the widely circulated legends always rehash the same story of the pious girl to whom Our Lady appeared eighteen times in the Massabielle grotto and who then dug a spring there with her own hands, the water of which is said to miraculously heal the sick to this day. MOTHER OF ALL MOTHERS Lourdes has become the most famous place of pilgrimage in Europe; a Disneyland of hope visited by millions of pilgrims every year and where the Mother of all Catholic mothers is marketed more mercilessly than in any other of the more than 900 places where the Mother of God has allegedly been sighted around the world. According to legend, Bernadette Soubirous came from a miserable background, vegetating with her parents first in a run-down mill called Boly and then in the Cachot, a prison-like dungeon. Depending on the interpretation, her father was a day laborer, vagrant or ruined miller. Bernadette received "messages" from the Blessed Mother, which she allegedly recorded in writing. She is said to have described her first on...

It is here at Massabielle Grotto in Lourdes, where Saint Bernadette saw 18 visions of The Virgin Mary in February 1858. People from all over The World come here every year to see & experience for themselves what took place here & visit the grotto as well. The Pilgrimage season begins in April & goes right through to September. You can also participate in the celebration of the mass here every day at 10.00 Lourdes time, 9.00 GMT. There’s lots of things going on here as well as other areas of the city. But, there’s one thing to remember & that is that Massabielle Square & the grotto is where it all began. The Virgin Mary, I was told asked for a church to be built up above the grotto & therefore in 1870, a church was constructed up above the grotto. You can see it just as you are coming through Rosary Square down towards Massabielle Square & the grotto itself. It’s well worth a visit, if you want to explore the area even more & learn about what exactly happened here....

It was a really nice experience at this grotto. You could feel the divine presence in this place with many people in prayer to God through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Marian Apparitions at Lourdes were reported in 1858 by Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old miller's daughter from the town of Lourdes in southern France. From 11 February to 16 July 1858, she reported 18 apparitions of "a Lady". Soubirous described the lady as wearing a white veil and a blue girdle; she had a golden rose on each foot and held a rosary of pearls. Despite initial skepticism from the Roman Catholic Church, these claims were eventually declared to be worthy of belief after a canonicalinvestigation, and the apparition is known as Our...