European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday january 11, 1986 Pilgrim at the Grotto in Gaurdet a Pirt Laplace ivs Pondt Between heaven and Lourdes a Miracle of Faith by Elaine Ganley associated press every Day at 4 . Thousands of the sick and handicapped file past the souvenir shops with Ihler plastic Virgin marys an electric hairs to enter the Valley of the Grotto for prayer song and the Hope of a Miracle. The procession with Many borne on stretchers enlers the sprawling White Basilica where a roman Catholic mass is said and the sick Are blessed doctors Are on hand to examine any who claim an immediate recovery. But a Miracle snot the most important thing says the Rev. Joseph Bordes. Rector of the Lourdes Sanctuary a southwestern France. The real Miracle is to find Faith prayer love con Odence in Aneseh. We Ell Are handicapped the Church has recognized 64 cures at Lourdes As miracles since 1862. Four years alter a Village girl named Bernadette Soubirous gathering stones in the Grotto said she had visions of the Virgin Mary. There have been 6,000 claimed recoveries. 11 has been 15 years since the last Miracle occurred but a least Eye i sudden recoveries were claimed during this year s pilgrimage season from april 1o november. Thai was fewer than usual bul was enough 1o nurture the Hope that As the Bishops and doctors pass through the crowd Grid will intervene whare earthly Powers could not. Lourdes a Pectal place suspended Between heaven and says Ethemia Dakes a nurse from Bayonne n. J., who for the 12th year was accompanying the american National Rosary pilgrimage Lor the sick end handicapped. Nestled in the soft Green tolds of the pyrenees and pushed with the Waltars of the gave River Lourdes is the world s largest Christian i a of pilgrimage but it clearly Hai its worldly preoccupations. Standing on streets Wilh names be Paradise Avenue. The 400 hotels i the town of 18,000 residents outnumber those of All other cities exc Cpl Paris and Nice. Some 600 souvenir shops with names like Rosary Palace and Pax Mundi Olfer everything trom traditional religious artefacts to the statues of the Virgin Mary with flashing halos and plastic bottles shaped like the Virgin Mary Lor gathering the coveted Troilo water. Religion i the main Indus try in Lourdes and in is profitable enough to allow the seasonal workers to close their shutters Lor the five month period that the Sanctuary around the Grotto shuts Down. That is the paraphernalia the props that a lot of people live by says the Rev. Joseph Allen spiritual director of the National Rosary pilgrimage once you enter the Gates you can drop the the props Are the accoutrements of a carefully orchestrated happening Al once theatrical and pious which lath Century French writer pm Plezola called almost a new religion the Sanctuary the 86-Acrb Domain of our lady of Lourdes operates on a $6 million annual budget All raised through contributions. Lourdes has six official languages and dozens of flags those of the National pilgrimages. What we want is thai the sick find Bordes says. Society hides the sick. Here they Are not on any Given Day of the pilgrimage season Lourdes welcomes 2,000 sick and handicapped people in five hospitals and three hospices. More than 4 million people irom up to 150 countries make their Way Here each year. That s twice the number of moslem who make the pilgrimage to Mecca. They Are drawn in part by the supposedly curative Powers of he Grotto water an underground Stream found by Bernadette during one of her 18 visions of the Virgin Mary recognized by the roman Catholic Church. The water is pumped into balls and through spigots for the pilgrims. The Sanctuary bottles and distributes it throughout the world. Crutches allegedly cast off by invalids who suddenly the stars and stripes could walk hang nuts do Iho Grotto. Though Church minorities make no claims for the water s Powers. Or. Theodore klan Gapan head of Tho Sanctuary s Bureau says the majority of cuts inflows Contact with Iho water the team of doctors a i the medical Bureau compile dossiers on sudden recoveries in the Stop of a Long meticulous process toward determining whether a Miri Cilc has occurred. If the Tom finds no medical explanation Loi the recovery the dossier is sent to a second Loam of specialise. Ii they cannot explain Hie cure the dossier Yoes to the local Bishop who has the authority to Doel Iio a Miracle. Serge Perrin of an Rojers France regained his vision while visiting Laureles i 1970. His recovery was declared a Miracle n 1978. The last recognized by the Church. Paul Russell 32. Of Kendall Park . Lost the use of his arms and legs in a car Accident in 1972. He has come 10 Lourdes for nine straight years. On the first trip he partly hoped Lor a cure but now he says. A
