Our Lady of Lourdes in the context of "Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)"

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes (French: Sanctuaire de Notre-Dame de Lourdes; Occitan: Santuari de Nòstra Senhora de Lorda) is a Catholic Marian shrine and pilgrimage site dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France. The sanctuary includes several religious buildings and monuments around the grotto of Massabielle, the place where the events of the Lourdes apparitions occurred in 1858, among them are three basilicas, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the Rosary Basilica and the Basilica of St. Pius X, respectively known as the upper, lower and underground basilica.

The sanctuary is a destination for sick and disabled pilgrims as the Lourdes water, which has flowed from the grotto since the apparitions, is reputed for miraculous healings. The area is owned and administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarbes-et-Lourdes, and has several functions, including devotional activities, offices, and accommodation for sick and disabled pilgrims and their helpers. In addition to the grotto and the three basilicas, the sanctuary includes fountains providing Lourdes water, baths for immersion in the water, an esplanade for processions, a calvary, the offices of the Lourdes Medical Bureau, and several places of worship in a 52-hectare (130-acre) area.

Qrendi (Maltese: Il-Qrendi) is a village in the Western Region of Malta, with a population of 3,148 people as of October 2021. It is located close to Mqabba, Żurrieq and Siġġiewi. Within its boundaries are the two Neolithic temples of Mnajdra and Ħaġar Qim.

Two annual feasts are held in Qrendi: the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is celebrated either on the last Sunday of June or the first Sunday of July, and the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lady on 15 August.

The Mariology of the popes is the theological study of the influence that the popes have had on the development, formulation and transformation of the Roman Catholic Church's doctrines and devotions relating to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The development of Mariology over the centuries has been influenced by a number of factors, among which papal directives have often represented key milestones. Examples of papal influences include new Marian feast days, prayers, acceptance of new Marian congregations, indulgences, support for Marian apparitions (e.g. Lourdes and Fatima) and declaration of Marian dogmas.

The Lourdes apparitions are several Marian apparitions reported in 1858 by Bernadette Soubirous, the 14-year-old daughter of a miller, in the town of Lourdes in Southern France.

From 11 February to 16 July 1858, she reported 18 apparitions of "a Lady". Soubirous described the lady as wearing a white veil and a blue girdle; she had a golden rose on each foot and held a rosary of pearls. After initial skepticism from the local clergy, these claims were eventually declared to be worthy of belief by the Catholic Church after a canonical investigation. The apparition is known as Our Lady of Lourdes.

Lourdes water is water which flows from a spring in the Grotto of Massabielle in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, France. According to Catholic tradition, the location of the spring was described to Bernadette Soubirous by an apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes on 25 February 1858. Since that time, many millions of pilgrims to Lourdes have followed the instruction of the Blessed Virgin Mary to "drink at the spring and bathe in it".

Since the supposed apparitions, many people have claimed to have been cured by drinking or bathing in it, and the Lourdes authorities provide it free of charge. Those claims have been described as an example of the placebo effect.

Bernadette Soubirous, SCN (/ˌbɜːrnəˈdɛt ˌsuːbiˈruː/; French: [bɛʁnadɛt subiʁu]; Occitan: Bernadeta Sobirós [beɾnaˈðetɔ suβiˈɾus]; 7 January 1844 – 16 April 1879), also known as Bernadette of Lourdes (religious name Marie-Bernarde), was a miller's daughter from Lourdes (Lorda in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France, and is best known for experiencing apparitions of a "young lady" who asked for a chapel to be built at the nearby cave-grotto. These apparitions occurred between 11 February and 16 July 1858, and the young lady who appeared to her identified herself as the "Immaculate Conception".

After a canonical investigation, Soubirous's reports were eventually declared "worthy of belief" on 18 February 1862, and the Marian apparition became known as Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1866, Soubirous joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers at their convent in Nevers where she spent the last years of her life. Her body is said by the Catholic Church to remain internally incorrupt. The grotto where the apparitions occurred became a major pilgrimage site and Marian shrine known as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, attracting around five million pilgrims of all denominations each year.