Lourdes is a town in south-western France which in 1858 became the site of one of the most famous Marian apparitions. The recipient of the vision, Bernadette Soubirous, was directed to start digging in a cave, and a spring was uncovered. The waters of the spring gained the reputation of possessing healing properties, and subsequently Lourdes has become one of the most popular Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world.

Currently, Lourdes is visited by between four and six million pilgrims annually, and it is estimated that over 200 million people have visited the site since 1858.

In 1905, Pope Pius X directed that the Lourdes Medical Bureau be established to assess claims of miraculous healing. To date, only 70 instances of healing following visits to Lourdes have been officially declared as miraculous, although anecdotal evidence of several thousand more has been claimed.

In the opening essay of this collection, celebrated skeptic and scholar Joseph McCabe turns his acerbic investigative eye on these events and challenges the validity of many of the healings. This collection also includes three other short essays on other religio-political issues and an article about McCabe by J.V. Nash.

Contents

• Debunking the Lourdes Miracles
• The Church in Mexico
• England's Religious Census
• The Cowardice of American Scientists
• The Views and Philosophy of Joseph McCabe by J. V. Nash