What miracles have happen in Lourdes?

The first miracle associated with Lourdes occurred when Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, told her mother that she had seen a 'lady' in the cave of Massabielle, about a mile from Lourdes, while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. Similar appearances of the lady were reported on seventeen further occasions that year, and many Christians believe the sightings to have been of Mary mother of Jesus. However, the truth of the apparitions of Lourdes is not an article of faith for Catholics, so these need not be considered miracles.

Pope Pius IX authorised the local bishop to permit the veneration of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes in 1862. Lourdes is now a site for Catholic pilgrimage, receiving over 80,000 pilgrims a year, and is renowned for its cures.

Approximately 7000 people have sought to have cures confirmed as miracles, but only 68 of these have been declared as scientifically inexplicable by both the Lourdes Medical Bureau and the Catholic Church. This number is so small as to suggest that these cases were likely to have been cured or gone into remission anyway.

There was perhaps less rigorous checking of supposed cures at Lourdes during the late nineteenth century, and it was during this period that some of the most impressive cures took place. One of the best known is the case of Gabriel Gargam, who appeared to be dead when a priest pronounced Benediction over him at Lourdes. Although the miraculous waters of Lourdes had been of no help to him, this simple act of Benediction is said to have brought Gargam back to life.

The most recent miracle claimed for Lourdes is the case of Serge Francois, who had lost almost all mobility in his left leg after complications. In 2003 he reported to the medical commission in Lourdes that he had been cured at Lourdes in 2002 after he went to the miraculous spring to drink the water and wash his face.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/catholicism/visions-of-the-virgin-mary