Lourdes

Lourdes is a place name located in southwestern France near the Spanish border and situation in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountain range. Lourdes usage as female name, however, has been largely perpetuated by Spanish and Portuguese Catholics in the same tradition as Fátima and Guadalupe. In other words, Lourdes is specifically notable for being a place where an apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared before a young girl. In 1858, a 14-year-old illiterate French peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous, who was out seeking firewood to sell, claimed to have seen a bright light and a specter of a woman inside a cave; the lady identified herself as “the Immaculate Conception”. The Blessed Mother instructed Bernadette to dig a hole in the grotto which uncovered a muddy spring of water. However, the next day, the water appeared pure and clean. Believers came to the shrine of the Grotto of Massabielle to bath in and drink from the holy water, which people claimed to have miraculous curing properties (the Roman Catholic Church has since validated dozens of these claims). Lourdes is now one of the most popular places of pilgrimage among Catholics – having received an estimated 200 million visitors since the mid 19th century. In fact, Lourdes is second only to Paris when it comes to annual visitors. It’s not entirely certain where the name Lourdes finds its etymological roots (although we do know that “lourdes” translates to “heavy” in French). Apparently the small French hamlet was named after an 8th century Moor, Mirat, who occupied the region and refused to surrender the strategic fortress to the Frankish king Charlemagne. Mirat was eventually converted to Christianity and took the Latin name Lorus in honor of his new found faith (the town was thus named after him). Lorus comes from the Latin “laurus” (meaning “laurel”) in reference to the laurel crown worn by ancient Romans as a symbol of victory. Incidentally, the name Lourdes is pronounced with one syllable in French (“luwrd”) but with two in Spanish (“loor-des”). Lola is a common nickname.