Gospel in Art: Our Lady of Lourdes

Statue of Virgin Mary in the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. By Joseph-Hugues Fabisch © Alamy

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 11 February 2026
Mark 7:14-23

At that time: Jesus called the people to him again and said to them, 'Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.' And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, 'Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?' Thus he declared all foods clean. And he said, 'What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.'

Reflection on the sculpture

The sculpture of Our Lady of Lourdes located in the grotto at Lourdes, France, was created by Joseph-Hugues Fabisch, a French sculptor known for his religious works. It was commissioned by the Bishop of Tarbes, Monsignor Laurence, following the apparitions of the Virgin Mary reported by Saint Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. The sculpture was completed and installed in 1864, six years after the apparitions. The original was carved in stone and polychrome painted.

Fabisch worked closely with Bernadette, who provided detailed descriptions of the Virgin Mary as she had seen her during the apparitions. Despite Fabisch's best efforts to follow Bernadette's descriptions, she later commented that the statue was beautiful but did not perfectly capture the Virgin Mary as she had experienced her in the visions. Bernadette said that Our Lady was even more beautiful and graceful than can ever be captured in a sculpture. She did however approve of the sculpture and prayers in front of the sculpture. She died in 1879 (age 35 years), fifteen years after the sculpture was completed. The statue remains one of the most iconic representations of Our Lady. Fabisch signed the work on the bottom right corner of the sculpture. The sculpture stands above the inscription "Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou", written in the local Occitan dialect of the region and translated as "I am the Immaculate Conception."

Today we celebrate Our Lady of Lourdes, recalling a series of 18 appearances that the Blessed Virgin Mary made to a 14-year-old French peasant girl, Saint Bernadette Soubirous. The Marian apparitions happened in 1858 and received the local bishop's approval after a four-year inquiry. Bernadette left Lourdes in 1866, two years after the sculpture was installed, to join a religious order in central France, where she died after several years of illness in 1879. By the time of her death, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception had also been built already. This elaborate building in Gothic style emerges directly from the rock of Massabielle, and the altar is placed directly over the place of the apparitions.

Lourdes is one of the busiest Christian pilgrimage sites in the world with around five million pilgrims visiting each year.

Our Lady of Lourdes - Pray for us.

LINKS

Christian Art: https://christian.art/
Today's reading: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/mark-7-14-23-2026/