It may seem incredible, but it is a reality. In the niche of the altarpiece of the chapel of the shrine Our Lady of Lourdes, of Alta Gracia, there is no statue of the Virgin but in fact her image can be seen although the place is verifiably empty. It is not a flat image but with relief, three-dimensional; folds in the dress can be seen. It resembles a holography. It is not a psychological illusion fruit of the exalted devotion of some pilgrims. All those who go there see it - whether they are believers or unbelievers - and in fact the image is recorded in the photographs that are taken.
It may seem incredible, but it is a reality. In the niche of the altarpiece of the chapel of the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, in Alta Gracia, there is no statue of the Virgin, but in fact her image can be seen even though the place is demonstrably empty.
It is not a flat image but with relief, three-dimensional; folds in the dress can be seen. It resembles a holography. It is not a psychological illusion fruit of the exalted devotion of some pilgrims.
All those who go there see it - whether believers or unbelievers - and in fact the image is recorded in the photographs that are taken.
The image can be seen very well from the entrance door and fades away if one gets too close to the altar.
How long has this phenomenon been occurring?
This chapel was built and blessed in 1927 and for many years there was a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in the center of the altarpiece. In August 2011 that statue was removed from its niche to be restored. One of the priests in charge of the sanctuary was preparing to close the chapel and from the front door of the chapel he saw an image that looked like plaster in the place where the statue used to stand. He approached it several times and as he got closer he saw that the image was fading away. And the statue was not there, it was where it had been placed when it was removed.
Faced with the manifest phenomenon, visible to anyone visiting the place, the Discalced Carmelite friars of the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes then issued a communiqué, in which they said: "The manifestation of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary has so far no rational explanation. It must be interpreted by the people of God as a sign to increase and deepen the Christian faith and to awaken in the hearts of men the conversion to the love of God and their participation in the life of the Church".
History
The chapel is located in an ample property, in a park of several hectares, where in 1916 a replica of the Massabielle grotto, in Lourdes, where the Virgin Mary appeared in 1858 to Saint Bernadette Soubirous, was inaugurated.
The idea and realization was due to two ladies from Buenos Aires, Guillermina Achával Rodríguez de Goyena and Delfina Bunge de Gálvez, writer, wife of the writer Manuel Gálvez.
Since the grotto was built, the place became a center of pilgrims' affluence in which the manifestations of love to the Mother of God grew. In 1922 a commission was formed to build a chapel near the grotto, whose foundation stone was laid in 1924 and blessed in 1927 by the then bishop of Córdoba, Monsignor José Anselmo Luque (Jorge Rouillon).
AICA