LOURDES, a t. of s. France, department of Hautes-Pyrenees, on the right bank of the Gave-de-Pau, 24 m. s.e. of Pau; pop. 4,577. It is at the base of an almost inacces .sible rock about 500 ft. high, on which is a fortress formerly possessed by the counts of Bigorre, but now used as a prison. The place was fortified by Julius Ccesar. Remains of Roman fortifications are found, and some curious grottoes in the vicinity. 1Vhen the English held it in the 14tli c., it was the center of their military operations, but after the treaty of Bretigny in 1460 it was evacuated by them. Manufactures of hand kerchiefs and flax, and a general trade in agricultural produce, are carried on. It t's a noted place of pilgrimage among Roman Catholics on account of the alleged appear ance of the Virgin Mary to two girls, Feb. 14, 1858. In 1872 about 20,000 persons resorted to the grotto of the Virgin Mary. It is alleged that many miraculous cnres have been wrought in answer to prayers offered at this shrine. In sonic, at least, of the
many instauces alleged, the fact of wonderful healing seems to be authenticated: the explanations of the fact vary greatly, according to the scientific or religious theories of the critic. One of the common explanations has been that the quickening of hope and imagination in certain susceptible natures has effected a cure by the operation of purely natural causes. This evidently leaves room for those who believe in healing by the power of prayer, to say that prayer is by a natural law the stimulant of hope; and that it in no wise derogates from the power of prayer to say that its place among the forces by which God governs the world is so sure that his answers to it flow along the lines of natural law. But perhaps the distinction between natural and supernatural may need to be revised.