Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
October 30, 2002
Water from famed Lourdes shrine in France available in Denver
Local parish opens Lourdes Marian Center to encourage Marian devotion
To promote Marian devotion, a local parish has established a Lourdes Marian Center that will distribute water from the sacred shrine in Lourdes, France.
Father Michael Walsh, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish and founder of the Lourdes Marian Center adjacent to the church, said the center is dedicated to promoting the message of Our Lady of Lourdes through education, prayer, pilgrimage and distribution of the water. The red brick center is at 1155 S. Josephine St. in Denver.
"When a man was delivering some barrels of Lourdes water to the new Lourdes Marian Center recently and saw that it had come all the way from France, he was amazed and asked, 'Why go all the way to Lourdes, France, for water when we have so much wonderful water here, which costs a fraction of what this is costing just to ship it here?'" Father Walsh said. "We had to take some time telling him about Lourdes, the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary there in 1858, and how she asked Bernadette to dig with her hands in the ground and drink from the spring which would appear there."
Mary appeared to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous 18 times at the grotto of Massabielle near Lourdes. Mary told Bernadette, "I am the Immaculate Conception." Pope Pius IX had solemnly declared this dogma in 1854. It was unimaginable that an illiterate peasant such as Bernadette would know of the pope's pronouncement.
Bernadette's account of Mary's apparitions gained credence when she repeated this beautiful Marian mystery of the Immaculate Conception. But when people began receiving miraculous cures at the well dug by Bernadette it was no longer easy to doubt the authenticity of the apparitions.
"Bernadette was the first of tens of millions from all over the world who have gone to worship at Lourdes and drink this health-giving water," Father Walsh said. "But, since so many people cannot go to Lourdes to bathe in and drink of this special water we are shipping it directly to Denver to make it available here and throughout the Western United States."
The water is now available at the Lourdes Marian Center in small plastic bottles holding about an ounce and half of water. A donation of $2.50 is asked to help with shipping and bottling expenses.
Father Walsh opened the Lourdes Marian Center at the invitation of Father Patrick Jacquin, the rector of the Shrine of Lourdes. The Lourdes Marian Center, Father Walsh said, has the approval and support of both Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., and the Bishop of Tarbes-Lourdes, France, Msgr. Jacques Perrier.
A committee of 10 men and women meet at the center on a monthly basis, pray the rosary, and make and execute plans to spread the message of Lourdes and distribute the healing waters discovered by Bernadette. The center is a renovated bungalow. Its interior walls are painted a celestial blue, like Mary's mantle. Inside are prayer and meeting rooms. In the basement are six barrels of Lourdes water, recently shipped from the shrine in France. A small grotto is under construction in the backyard.
The Lourdes Marian Center will be blessed by Archbishop Chaput after the 10 a.m. Mass Jan. 1, 2003, the feast of Mary, Mother of God. Present will be the bishop of Lourdes, Msgr. Perrier, and Father Jacquin.
For more information on the center, call 303-744-6119 or 303-698-0300.
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