Hiking Highlight
Recommended by 823 out of 865 hikers
This Highlight is in a protected area
Please check local regulations for: Natur- und Geopark Vulkaneifel
The small chapel on the side of the road with the Lourdes Madonna invites you to take a short spiritual pause. This well-known Marian pilgrimage site is located in the French Pyrenees and is visited by many people every year, including many sick people who hope for healing. The devotional image of the Mother of God has become widespread - not only in France - and believers have built Lourdes chapels and grottos everywhere.
The church's memorial day "Our Lady of Lourdes" is on February 11th, this is the anniversary of the Marian apparition (1858), when the Mother of God appeared to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous in a rock grotto very close to Lourdes. Bernadette later became a nun and died at the age of just 35. On December 8th (the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary) 1933, she was canonized by Pope Pius XI.
The commemoration of the Madonna of Lourdes is also World Day of the Sick.
June 6, 2021
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