1858 was the year of the apparitions at the Grotto of Massabielle near Lourdes. Eight years later, in 1866, a chapel had been built over the Grotto rock, and in May of that
1858 was the year of the apparitions at the Grotto of Massabielle near Lourdes. Eight years later, in 1866, a chapel had been built over the Grotto rock, and in May of that year the first Mass was celebrated there and its altars consecrated. This was done to fulfil a wish expressed by Our Lady to Bernadette. In the eight years between these two events local people had been drawn to visit the scene of the apparitions and the numbers grew year by year, in spite of much initial opposition from the town officials. The commission, which had been set up by Monsignor Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes, to investigate the strange happenings, gave its verdict on the authenticity of the apparitions in 1862, and from then on work could proceed to carry out Our Lady’s wishes.
By the time the first chapel (now known as the Crypt) had been consecrated, the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes had been erected in the Grotto, and a number of Garaison Fathers, who had been put in charge of the shrine, had arrived. The first pilgrims to Lourdes came mainly from the surrounding areas: Bigorre, Bearn and the Basque country, people to whom a devotion to Our Lady came naturally. The year 1866, however, was to be an important year in another way, for it saw the completion of a railway link to Lourdes and the building of the Railway Station. A train pilgrimage from Tarbes in that same year was to be the forerunner of a rapidly growing number of pilgrimages from further afield.
The little chapel that had been built was soon found to be too small for the growing number of pilgrims, and work proceeded on the new church, planned to rise above the original edifice, which was to be its crypt. And so in 1871, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (the Upper Basilica) was opened for divine service. The Basilica was constructed, contrary to custom, to align from East to West so that the foundation of the sanctuary would lie over the Grotto rock. In the year of its opening, the number of pilgrims who came to Lour