In 1858, in an unassuming town in the southwest of France, a 14-year-old peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous claimed she had 18 encounters with the Virgin Mary. Since then, Lourdes has become one of the holiest Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world, visited annually by more than five million people who come in search of healing from its sacred waters. Since the end of World War II, soldiers from around the world have journeyed to Lourdes seeking healing and unity with one another at a week-long gathering known as the International Military Pilgrimage.

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