Talk:Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

Veracity of visions
In an encyclopaedia such as Wikipedia it is reasonable to view claims of apparitions of devotional figures (such as Our Lady of Lourdes) with detachment. However, I believe it is not necessary to continually labour this point. For example, in the article as it currently stands, I think it is quite reasonable to have: " Bernadette Soubirous claimed to have experienced a series of apparitions of a girl dressed in white", but I don't believe it is necessary to put quotation marks around further descriptions of the apparition, such as: "The figure always 'appeared' in one place".

The entire Sanctuary has been constructed with the view that the apparitions did occur and were miraculous and genuine. This article is a description of the Sanctuary, and not a debate about the veracity of the apparitions. For further discussion, see Talk:Our Lady of Lourdes or Talk:Bernadette Soubirous.Preacherdoc 20:18, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Alterations to the Grotto
I am quite interested in what alterations have been made to the rock of the Grotto itself. Within the last two years more of the rock has been carved away (in association with removal of the old drinking taps) to improve access to the left hand side of the Grotto; and in the Grotto itself, the marks of power tools on the inner walls are quite apparent. How old these marks are, and what was there before they were made, is not clear.Preacherdoc 20:18, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Scepticism and Criticism
This text was lifted in entirety from the Wiki article about Lourdes the town. As it stands all of it was written by me. There has been significant criticism of the text which is readable on the Talk:Lourdes page.

I am at a loss to explain the resurgence of this paragraph: "Critic of faith healing, such as James Randi's book The Faith Healers, criticized Father Ralph DiOrio, who was a Vatican-approved healer at Lourdes in the 1980s. DiOrio, influenced by Kathryn Kuhlman, claims he can cure such things as arthritis, but has never supplied any subjects to give to proof to this."

This paragraph is highly doubtful, and I have toned it down here (as before). For reasons why it is likely to be nonsense, see Talk:Lourdes.Preacherdoc 20:18, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

I am putting the note about the domain being free of stalls & hawkers...I think it is highly significant & adds balance to the lines about the "neon-emblazoned gift shops overflowing with tacky souvenirs". Having been to both Lourdes and Guadalupe I think the way the domain is kept uncommericial is definitely worth noting. RoyalBlueStuey 09:10, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Is the reference to a random American priest relevant to an article about the Lourdes sanctuary? Ralph DiOrio doesn't practice in Lourdes and his website contains few direct reference to it. RoyalBlueStuey (talk) 16:07, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Dawkin documentory
re:"Richard Dawkins, British evolutionary biologist and atheist, also expressed scepticism about the healing ability of Lourdes in his documentary The Root of All Evil?, noting the lack of statistical evidence that there have been any miraculous healings. Dawkins also points out that the cures are invariably for ailments that may have healed naturally (nobody has reported a miraculous regrowing of a missing limb, for example"

Is this totally true? There are examples such as Jack Traynor who had a metal plate in his head which totally dissapeared after his visit to Lourdes. RoyalBlueStuey (talk) 17:23, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Similarity of Origin
This is a very interesting paragraph. Unfortunately it is slightly inflated in its tone, so I have toned it down. As mentioned in the Our Lady of Lourdes article, apparitions and similar events often have parallels with each other. Preacherdoc 20:18, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Another Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Canada
I don't have time/inclination to write an article on it, but this is a very interesting little story - see D'Herbomez Creek for more context; this was the site of an annual Passion Play attended by 7-8000 First Nations people, with the Passion delivered in the Chinook Jargon. Destroyed in the later 20th Century with other old mission buildings, it was reconstructed as a heritage effort. Hopefully someone here might take an interest and write an article; the link has a good amount of detail.Skookum1 (talk) 02:15, 28 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't know what this teaches a user about Lourdes. It may be interesting, but relevant? Perhaps not. History2007 (talk) 06:26, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

statue thumbnail
I removed the statue thumbnail as it was rotated 90 degrees I also removed a disambiguity reference to a church in Blackpool that didn't even have the same name RoyalBlueStuey (talk) 14:09, 5 December 2011 (UT

what I want to know is
Does the French government make them put in handicapped-accessible bathrooms?69.120.202.82 (talk) 23:14, 8 November 2013 (UTC)captcrisis