The first miracle in Lourdes

The first documented miracle in Lourdes occurred in 1858 when 38-year-old Catherine Latapie, a farmer’s wife and mother of 4 children, felt a sudden urge to travel to Lourdes in search of healing. Two years prior, she had fallen from a tree and severely injured her right hand. The accident left two of her fingers entirely paralyzed. Catherine, who wasn’t very devout, met Saint Bernadette at the grotto and simply dipped her hand in the little, muddy spring that had formed there. Immediately, the paralysis of her fingers was gone, and she could move them just as she could before her accident. She also joined her hands to thank the Virgin Mary for the miracle.

On the same day she was cured, she gave birth to a boy who later became a priest. Her spectacular cure was a test case that started an era of reported miracles that has lasted ever since.

Adapted from Coraevans