On 28th July 1858, the bishop of Lourdes launched a commission of enquiry into the supposed apparitions of the Virgin Mary at the Grotto of Massabielle: the task would last four years, culminating, on 18th January 1862, in a Decree which officially recognised the apparitions.
The official recognition of the apparitions of Lourdes by the Church was based on the crucial testimony of Bernadette Soubirous and a meticulous work of enquiry, discernment and prayer.
In the Sanctuary of Lourdes, entering the Immaculate Conception Basilica, on the right aisle, the solemn declaration of the bishop of the apparitions, Bishop Laurence, is engraved in marble, “We judge that the Immaculate Mary, Mother of God, really appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, on 11th February 1858 and the following days, eighteen times, in the grotto of Massabielle, near the city of Lourdes; that this apparition assumes all the characteristics of the truth, and that the faithful have reason to believe it beyond doubt. We humbly submit our judgment to the judgment of the Supreme Pontiff, who is charged with governing the universal Church”. This declaration of the bishop of Tarbes was crucial: four years after the apparitions, on 18th January 1862, in the name of the Church, he recognised them as authentic.
Bishop Laurence did not let things drag on: the 18 apparitions took place between 11th February and 16th July 1858, and on 28th July he constituted a Commission of Enquiry “to collect and to ascertain the facts which have happened or which could still occur in or around the grotto of Lourdes, to report them to us, to highlight their nature, and thus to provide us with the components necessary for us to reach a conclusion”…
The Commission needed to look for healings that had occurred following use of the water in the Grotto. Was this water natural or supernatural? Were Bernadette’s visions real? If so, did they have a divine character? Had the Apparition made requests of the child? If so, what were these? Had the spring in the Grotto existed before the vision Bernadette claimed to have had? And, in the Ordinance by which he set up the Commission, the Bishop insisted on the thoroughness of the work to be carried out: an investigation to establish the facts, the questioning of witnesses, the consultation of scientists, in particular the doctors who would have treated the sick before their recovery, but also experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, geology. “The commission must not neglect a single thing to obtain all the information possible in order to arrive at the truth, whatever it may be…”
For nearly four years, the Commission investigated and interrogated Bernadette, and the bishop gave his conclusion in his famous letter of 18th January 1862 “declaring judgment on the Apparition which took place at the Grotto of Lourdes”.
After a descriptive reminder of the apparitions, the bishop explained the prudent slowness that the Church takes in the evaluation of supernatural facts: she asks for certain proofs, before admitting them and claiming them as divine, because the devil can mislead humans by disguising himself as an angel of light. “We have kept ourselves informed of the findings of the commission composed of pious, learned, and experienced priests who have questioned the child, studied the facts, examined, and weighed everything. We have also called in men of science, and we have remained convinced that the Apparition is supernatural and divine and that consequently what Bernadette saw is the Blessed Virgin. our conviction is based on the testimony of Bernadette but more especially on the other facts which have taken place, and which cannot be explained except by divine intervention.”
