07/27/2019
80 years: Believers from the Tri-State area flock to The Grotto at St. Lucy's Catholic Church in the Allerton section of The Bronx to find solace, pray and to even seek a spiritual cure. The Grotto, The Bronx’s own Lourdes shrine was instituted by Msgr. Pasquale Lombardo, founder of St. Lucy’s in 1932. Inspired by his visit to the French shrine in Lourdes, Mgsr. Lombardo vowed to build a replica in The Bronx. Completed in 1939, it has become known as “Lourdes of America”. Crowds gather, especially on weekends and special holidays, and people stand patiently in line, waiting to fill bottles, large and small, with water for bathing, blessing homes or washing cars. Upon reaching The Grotto, some kneel and pray before sipping the water or splashing it on themselves. The Shrine of Virgin Mary rests 15 feet above the stone ground, a replica of the 19th-century shrine in Lourdes, France, where Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared.💒
@ La Gruta
