Lourdes grotto

A Lourdes grotto is a replica of the original grotto at Lourdes (a Catholic religious site reputed to have healing properties) or a grotto honouring Our Lady of Lourdes unassociated with the Lourdes site. Some such grottoes are called simply "Lourdes grottoes", others are described as replicas, or as honouring Our Lady of Lourdes.

Among places which state they have Lourdes grottoes are:

Lourdes

Lourdes (pronunciation: [luʀd]; Lorda in Occitan, pron. ['lurðɔ]) is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France. Prior to the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1858, the most prominent feature of the town was the fortified castle that rises up from a rocky escarpment at its centre.

In 1858 Lourdes rose to prominence in France and abroad due to the Marian apparitions seen by the peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous, who was later canonized. Shortly thereafter the city became one of the world's most important sites of pilgrimage and religious tourism. Today Lourdes hosts around six million visitors every year from all corners of the world. This constant stream of pilgrims and tourists transformed quiet Lourdes into the second most important center of tourism in France, second only to Paris, and the third most important site of international Catholic pilgrimage after Rome and the Holy Land. As of 2011, of French cities only Paris had more hotel capacity.

Mary (mother of Jesus)

According to the New Testament, Mary (Miriam: Hebrew: מרים‎; c. 18 BC – c. 43 AD), also known as Saint Mary, the Virgin Mary, or the Blessed Virgin Mary—amongst other titles, styles and honorifics—was a Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth and the mother of Jesus.

The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament describe Mary as a virgin (Greek: παρθένος, parthénos) and Christians believe that she conceived her son while a virgin by the Holy Spirit. This took place when she was already betrothed to Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. According to ancient Jewish custom, Mary could have been betrothed at about 12, however, there is no direct evidence of Mary's age at betrothal or in pregnancy. The term "betrothal" is an awkward translation of kiddushin; according to the Jewish law those called "betrothed" were actually husband and wife.

The Gospel of Luke begins its account of Mary's life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. According to gospel accounts, Mary was present at the Crucifixion of Jesus and is depicted as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. According to Apocryphal writings, at some time soon after her death, her incorrupt body was assumed directly into Heaven, to be reunited with her soul, and the apostles thereupon found the tomb empty; this is known in Christian teaching as the Assumption.

Bernadette Soubirous

Marie-Bernarde "Bernadette" Soubirous (Occitan: Bernadeta Sobirós; 7 January 1844 – 16 April 1879) was the firstborn daughter of a miller from Lourdes, France, and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

Soubirous is best known for the Marian apparitions of a "small young lady" who asked for a chapel to be built at the nearby garbage dump of the cave-grotto at Massabielle where apparitions are said to have occurred between 11 February and 16 July 1858. She would later receive recognition when the lady who appeared to her identified herself as the Immaculate Conception.

Despite initial skepticism from the Catholic Church, Soubirous's claims were eventually declared "worthy of belief" after a canonical investigation, and the Marian apparition is now known as Our Lady of Lourdes. Since her death, Soubirous's body has apparently remained internally incorrupt, but it is not without blemish; during her third exhumation in 1925, the firm of Pierre Imans made light wax coverings for her face and her hands due to the discoloration that her skin had undergone. These masks were placed on her face and hands before she was moved to her crystal reliquary in June 1925. The Marian shrine at Lourdes (Midi-Pyrénées, France) went on to become a major pilgrimage site, attracting over five million pilgrims of all denominations each year.