In the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, in the town of Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France.

 As the French would say, Lourdes, c’est magnifique.

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(in southwestern France) Lourdes, a market town situated in the Pyrenees, is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château fort de Lourdes, a fortified castle that rises up from a rocky escarpment at its center.

+ During the late 16th century, France was ravaged by the Wars of Religion between the Roman Catholics and the Huguenots. In 1569, Count Gabriel de Montgomery attacked the nearby town of Tarbes when Queen Jeanne d’Albret of Navarre established Protestantism there. The town was overrun in 1592 by forces of the Catholic League and the Catholic faith was re-established in the area. In 1607 Lourdes became part of the Kingdom of France. The castle became a jail under Louis XV but, in 1789, the General Estates Assembly ordered the liberation of prisoners. After the rise of Napoleon in 1803, he made the Castle an Estate jail again. Near the end of the Peninsular War between France, Spain, Portugal, and Britain in 1814, British and Allied forces entered France and took control of the region and followed Marshall Soult's army, defeating the French near the adjoining town of Tarbes before the final battle, outside Toulouse on 10 April 1814, brought the war to an end.

+ Up until 1858, Lourdes was a quiet, modest, county town with a population of only some 4,000 inhabitants. The castle was occupied by an infantry garrison. The town was a place people passed through on their way to the waters at Barèges, Cauterets, Luz-Saint-Sauveur, and Bagnères-de-Bigorre (and for mountaineers on their way to Gavarnie).

+ The contemporary importance of Lourdes dates from 1858. In that year, from February 11 to July 16, Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old girl, had numerous visions of the Virgin Mary in the nearby Massabielle grotto, on the left bank of the stream. Her visions were declared authentic by Pope Pius IX in 1862, and veneration of Mary as Our Lady of Lourdes was authorized. The underground spring in the grotto, revealed to Bernadette, was declared to have miraculous qualities, and Lourdes became a major pilgrimage center.

+ The basilica, built above the grotto in 1876, eventually became overcrowded by the increasing number of pilgrims, and in 1958 an immense prestressed concrete underground church, seating 20,000, was dedicated. Now known as the Sanctuaires Notre Dame de Lourdes, the grotto is considered one of the holiest sites in Christendom. More than six million people arrive in Lourdes every year hoping to be healed by the holy waters. Outside the theme-park-like atmosphere of the town, you will find some intriguing sites, including the hilltop castle and various humble abodes where Soubirous resided. The city abounds with religious activity, with opportunities to attend mass, like the Rosary as part of the daily Candlelight Procession, or visit holy sites like the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.