Anne’s View 2018-6

I am not sure where to start on Lourdes. Robert tells me that I get to do the religious part (being raised in the Catholic Church), while he does the secular part!! The city is relatively small—15,000 people, but it hosts 5 million tourists and pilgrims each year. So it is a busy, busy place. Our hosts in Lourdes were an Italian couple with two children named Bernadette and Joseph. They moved from Italy for jobs in Lourdes. Their original apartment is where we stayed and it was very personally decorated as their home. I included an Italian proverb that is on the wall in the lounge and the English translation. I felt it appropriate for all families!!

Lourdes is known in the Catholic Church for the Virgin Mary appearing 18 times in 1858 to a young woman named Bernadette, so of course I knew about it as a child and the family stories about my grandfather visiting Lourdes as a young man.  My maternal grandfather was in France during WWI. While there he made a pilgrimage to Lourdes during the 60th anniversary of the visitations. I made the visit 100 years later on the 160th anniversary. Hard to believe 100 years has passed. My grandfather decided that if he ever had a daughter, her name would be Bernadette. When he got married,  his first child was a girl and he named her Bernetta–something got lost in the translation, but my mother was named for St. Bernadette. So I felt a connection with Lourdes, my grandfather and mother.

The actual grotto where the ‘visitations’ took place is still there with a statue of Mary in it with the Cathedrals/Basilicas built on top of the cliff over the grotto. The Sanctuary with the grounds and churches is wonderful. It is amazing to see how they built everything connected. Since it is on a cliff there are many stairs and ramps to get into the different levels. The thing that impressed me the most was the Our Lady (or Notre Dame) Basilica. All the decoration in it is mosaic—floors, ceilings, walls, etc. When you first walk in you think they are paintings but they are not—they are mosaics and each one was done by a different artist. They are magnificent. Even up close you want to call them paintings there is so much detail. I of course thought of quilters and piecing fabric!! So I am including some pictures of the floor.