Lourdes Water - Bathing

Bathing

Primitive makeshift bathing installations were constructed in the 1850s by local builders. Until 1880 there were only two pools, filled by a manual pump. In 1880, a wooden bathing-house containing fourteen pools ("piscines") was constructed.

The French author Emile Zola visited the Sanctuary in 1891 and again in 1892. He wrote:

And the water was not exactly inviting. The Grotto Fathers were afraid that the output of the spring would be insufficient, so in those days they had the water in the pools changed just twice a day. As some hundred patients passed through the same water, you can imagine what a horrible slop it was at the end. There was everything in it: threads of blood, sloughed-off skin, scabs, bits of cloth and bandage, an abominable soup of ills... the miracle was that anyone emerged alive from this human slime.

During the 1897 Jubilee Pilgrimage to Lourdes, priest François Picard was thirsty after a long day. Rather than drinking fresh water, he asked an assistant to fill his glass from a bathing pool, heavily contaminated from the sick pilgrims who had been immersed in it. When the father had received, he made the sign of the cross and drank slowly, right to the end. Then, he gave back the glass and concluded with a smile: "The water of the good Mother of Heaven is always delicious."

The next set of piscines was completed in 1891, and tiled in the Virgin's blue. This building was located near to where the water taps are now and can be seen on old photographs of the Domain.

The current baths were constructed in 1955, and upgraded in 1972 and 1980. There are 17 separate bath cubicles, 11 for women and six for men. Each year about 350,000 people use the baths.

The water is not heated and is usually cold; the temperature is around 12 °C (54 °F.) The immersion lasts around a minute, during which time prayers are recited and veneration of a statue of the Virgin is encouraged. Able-bodied pilgrims are aided by one or two volunteer attendants, but immobile pilgrims sometimes require much more physical help. The water in each bath is constantly being topped up & refreshed via a pump. It is now constantly circulated and purified by irradiation.