14 September 2018

Scenes from Lourdes Parish Church



These are scenes found in Lourdes's parish church, the Church of the Sacred Heart.

Eglise Paroissiale (Parish Church)

The present parish church was built between the 28th of July of 1875 and the 8th of September of 1903. It houses Bernadette’s baptismal font. In the crypt lies Abbot Peyramale’s tomb, priest of Lourdes at the times of the visions. Under the bell tower stands a statue of “Bernadette en capulet”, wearing typical regional headdress. The parish church was built in substitution of the ancient Saint-Pierre church, located on the market square (at present the Peyramale square), a church where Bernadette used to go and destroyed by fire in 1904. (Source: Lourdes Tourism Office)

Notre Dame de Montserrat (Our Lady of Montserrat)

Our Lady of Montserrat or the Virgin of Montserrat is a Marian title associated with a venerated statue of the Madonna and Child venerated at the Santa Maria de Montserrat monastery on the Montserrat Mountain in Catalonia, Spain. She is the Patron Saint of Catalonia, an honour she shares with Saint George (Sant Jordi in Catalan). The famed image once bore the inscription ''Negra Sum Sed Formosa" (Latin: I am Black, but Beautiful). (Source: Wikipedia)

La Crypte de L'Eglise (Church Crypt)

The crypt houses the white marble tomb of the parish priest Peyramale, who "devoted himself entirely to building a temple to the mother of God" according to the engraved mention. In this crypt were two large paintings, one of which, representing Saint John, came from the Cagots church of Quai Saint-Jean. The two paintings, stored for a time in the castle chapel, were deposited in the crypt to leave for renovation, but never returned. The two missing paintings are on both sides of the altarpiece. (Source: Wikipedia)