The image of Our Lady of Lourdes that’s not there but that everyone sees

The image of the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes that is seen but is not there. / Credit: Courtesy of Guadalupe García Corigliano

Lima Newsroom, Feb 11, 2025 / 15:20 pm (CNA).

Those who visit the chapel of the Our Lady of Lourdes shrine in the city of Alta Gracia in Córdoba province, Argentina, witness a phenomenon that has no explanation: In the niche that is part of the altarpiece above the altar, an image of the Virgin Mary can be seen although without a doubt the space is empty — there is nothing there.

According to the Argentine news agency AICA, what is seen is not a flat image but rather a relief, a three-dimensional image with folds in the garment. It is also not a psychological illusion resulting from the exaggerated devotion of some pilgrims.

Everyone — believer or not — sees it. Additionally, the image appears in photos taken there. A curious fact is that the image is clearly seen from the front door of the church and then fades as one slowly approaches the altar.

Sources from Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine in Alta Gracia told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that although there is no specific statement from the Archdiocese of Córdoba, where the shrine is located, “everything is still the same and there is no new statement.” 

Latest from the shrine’s rector

In a Feb. 10 statement to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Father Pablo Pavone, rector of the shrine, commented that “one discovers, over time, that the Mother of God is not democratic. What do I mean by this? That she does not attend to everyone equally, she is a mother and so she knows each one of her children and knows that they have different needs.”

“Each person comes with his own set of particulars. And if we had to talk about a reason, there are as many reasons as hearts that visit the shrine, and what our Mother does is receive each one and establish a very personal relationship with each one of us,” he continued.

The Argentine priest also noted that “the second thing is the attitude with which we have to come to the shrine, which is a place where one witnesses numerous interventions of the Virgin in response to the person’s faith; and you try to find a common denominator in all this, in all the people who have a powerful experience, it’s the trust with which they come here.”

Pavone emphasized that “here the doors are open for all those who want to come, we invite everyone to come” these days or on another occasion because “the Virgin does not keep a datebook for all of them.”

How did the phenomenon originate?

The chapel of the Virgin of Alta Gracia is located on a large property where in 1916 a replica was dedicated of the Massabielle grotto in Lourdes, France, where the Virgin appeared in 1858 to St. Bernadette Soubirous.

In 1922 a commission was formed to build a chapel near the grotto. The first stone was laid in 1924 and in 1927 the bishop of Córdoba blessed the chapel. For many years there was a statue of Our Lady Lourdes in the center of the church’s altarpiece.

In mid-2011 it was removed from its niche or base to be restored and is currently located at the foot of the niche that was left empty.

One day one of the priests in charge of the shrine was going to close the chapel and from the main door he saw an image that looked like it was made of plaster in the empty space.

He approached several times, and each time he did so he noticed that the image he saw from a certain distance faded. The truth was that there was actually no image, but he saw it.

Because of the phenomenon, visible to anyone, the discalced Carmelite friars of the shrine issued a statement in 2011 noting that “the manifestation of the image of the most holy Virgin Mary has no explanation at the moment.”

“It must be interpreted by the people of God as a sign to increase and deepen the Christian faith and to inspire in the hearts of men conversion to the love of God and their participation in the life of the Church,” they said.

2025 celebrations for Our Lady of Lourdes

This year, tens of thousands of faithful made the 48th pilgrimage on foot to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes during the Argentine summer.

The pilgrims departed last night at 9 p.m. local time from the Plaza de las Américas in Córdoba and arrived around 5:30 a.m. today, Feb. 11, at the shrine in Alta Gracia, a distance of about 25 miles.

A midnight Mass was offered this morning, the rosary of the dawn was prayed at 5:30 a.m., and then a Mass for the pilgrims was celebrated at 6 a.m. by Alejandro Musolino, auxiliary bishop of Córdoba.

At 9 a.m. there was a Mass for the communities and movements, at 11 a.m. another for the families, and at 6 p.m. a Mass for the sick is scheduled to be celebrated by Cardinal Ángel Sixto Rossi, the archbishop of Córdoba.

At 7 p.m. there will be a procession at the shrine with a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes.

This story was first published in 2015 by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been updated by ACI Prensa and translated and adapted by CNA.