The image of Our Lady of Lourdes in Argentina: an illusion or a phenomenon?

Visitors to the chapel of the Our Lady of Lourdes shrine in the city of Alta Gracia in Córdoba province, Argentina, are witnesses to a phenomenon that has no explanation: In the niche that is part of the altarpiece above the altar in the shrine, an image of the Virgin Mary can be seen, although the space is undoubtedly empty — there is nothing there.

According to sources, what is seen is not a flat image but rather a relief, a three-dimensional image with folds in the garment. It is also said not to be a psychological illusion resulting from the exaggerated devotion of some pilgrims.

Everyone sees it; both believers and unbelievers. This image appears in photos taken there. A curious fact is that it is seen clearly from the front door of the church and then fades as one slowly approaches the altar.

Sources from Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine in Alta Gracia told sources that although there is no specific statement from the Archdiocese of Córdoba, where the shrine is located, “everything is still the same. The image can be seen just as on the first day or more, a little more.”

“As for the image in the niche, everything remains the same and intact,” according to the statement.

Since it was built at the beginning of the 20th century, the Our Lady of Lourdes shrine has been an important pilgrimage site. In 2023, more that 30,000 pilgrims came from the city of Córdoba, 22 miles away.

In the Mass he offered there for the World Day of the Sick on February 11, 2023, Cardinal Ángel Sixto Rossi, the archbishop of Córdoba, pointed out that “the experience of weakness and illness are part of our path; they don’t exclude us from the people of God, but they take us to the center of the attention of the Lord, who is Father and does not want to lose any of his children along the way.”

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Masses were held this year on February 10, and February 11, for the faithful who participated in the 47th pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. A midnight Mass was also celebrated on February 11, and a sunrise rosary was prayed at 5:30 a.m. followed by a Mass at 6 a.m. for the pilgrims, 9 a.m. for communities and movements, 11 a.m. for families, and 6 p.m. for the sick.

The 6 p.m. Eucharist was celebrated by Horacio Álvarez, an auxiliary bishop of Córdoba. Cardinal Rossi did not celebrate this Mass because he was in Rome to attend the canonization of María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa (Mama Antula), Argentina’s first female saint.

The origination of the phenomenon:

A commission was formed to build a chapel near the grotto in 1922. The first stone was laid in 1924, and the bishop of Córdoba blessed the chapel in 1927. For many years there was a statue of Our Lady Lourdes of Córdoba in the center of the church’s altarpiece.

In mid-2011 the statue was removed from its niche to be restored, and is currently located at the foot of the niche that was left empty.

One day, one of the priests in charge of the shrine was going to close the chapel, when, from the main door, he saw an image that looked like it was made of plaster in the empty space.

He approached the alter several times, and each time he did so, he noticed that the image he saw from a certain distance faded. There was actually no image there, but he saw it.

Because of this phenomenon which is visible to anyone, the discalced Carmelite friars of the shrine issued a statement in 201, noting that “the manifestation of the image of the most holy Virgin Mary has no explanation at the moment.”

“It must be interpreted by the people of God as a sign to increase and deepen the Christian faith and to inspire in the hearts of men conversion to the love of God and their participation in the life of the Church,” they said.

“The only message of the Virgin is none other than that which she has manifested in her life among men and is recorded in the Gospel as a divine revelation and kept in the deposit of the Catholic faith,” the Carmelite friars stated.