The Lourdes baths have reopened at last!

Five baths at the Lourdes shrine reopened in August, to coincide with the Assumption pilgrimage (August 12-16, 2024). This was an important decision for the shrine, as immersion in the Lourdes water is an essential part of the pilgrimage. 

Until 2020, almost 400,000 pilgrims could immerse themselves fully in the baths each year. But following the Covid 19 pandemic, the pools all closed for obvious health reasons. Originally due to reopen at the end of 2024, it was decided to advance the reopening of the baths by a few months, but gradually: of the eighteen baths, only five were opened for the national Assumption pilgrimage, which attracts some 20,000 pilgrims for the August 15 mass.

For almost 4 years, immersion in the baths had been replaced by the “gesture of water”. Pilgrims were still able to visit the baths, but only to wash their hands and faces in a symbolic way, or to drink the spring water. This reopening “was eagerly awaited by most pilgrims. The baths are a Lourdes signature. It is the only shrine in the world (I think) that lets pilgrims bathe in the miraculous water of the shrine,” Assumptionist Father Sébastien Antoni, director of the national pilgrimage to Lourdes, told RCF. 

Immersing oneself in the baths of Lourdes "also means reflecting on one's own baptism. You are immersed in water and come out washed and purified,” explained the director of the Lourdes National Pilgrimage. In her ninth apparition, on February 25, 1858, the Virgin Mary told Saint Bernadette to "go and drink from the spring". "I found only a little muddy water,” Bernadette reported. "On the fourth try I could drink.” 

The Lourdes spring water is entirely potable and although it has no therapeutic properties, it is associated with numerous miracles. "This water would have no virtue without faith," declared St. Bernadette.

Adapted and translated from Zenit