Father Eustáquio had a great devotion to Our Lady. Among his belongings, we find many texts dedicated to the mother of Jesus. But one in particular speaks of Our Lady of Lourdes. During his time in Brazil, the missionary of Health and Peace was parish priest of the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes, in Poá-SP, from where the first miracles were reported.

The following text, recovered by the team that restores and catalogs the documents belonging to the Blessed, tells a little about the history of the apparitions of Our Lady in Lourdes, France, and about the devotion we should have to the mother of Our Savior. Read the full text:

Our Lady of Lourdes

“Less than a hundred years have passed since a poor shepherdess had the great privilege of distinctly contemplating the Blessed Virgin Mary in a grotto near the city – when she saw her, Mary was dressed in white with a blue sash, a rosary in her hand, and her eyes raised to heaven. And when little Bernadette kept asking who she was, she replied: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” And to confirm the words she spoke, she caused a spring of crystal-clear water to gush forth at that very moment at the foot of the grotto, in a sandy place where no one had ever discovered a drop of water before. This miraculous spring was a sign of a torrent of miracles that would henceforth take place in the privileged location of Lourdes.

Six years ago, I had the great privilege of visiting the Sanctuary of Lourdes for the first time, and I cannot express how much I miss everything I saw and heard there. On one side, pilgrims fervently kissing the grotto where the feet of Our Blessed Mother rested. On the other side, the immersion of the sick in that same miraculous water – and on yet another side, the procession of the Blessed Sacrament, in which each sick person – that day there were more than a thousand – receives a blessing. Oh, how much human misery is gathered in one place, but also how much abundance of heavenly consolation descends upon that same place.

I saw unbelievers, only to abuse the people's faith, kneel at the foot of the grotto and shed tears like a prodigal son. I saw sick people, whose cure by human science had been declared impossible, rise from their beds of pain, defying the wisdom of the world. I saw sick people covered in sores, full of pain and suffering, sing the praises of Mary who miraculously consoled them.

Dearest Brothers, I witnessed that during the blessing of the sick, there was no one without tears in their eyes. Fathers and mothers, full of faith, raised their arms to the Blessed Sacrament for the healing of a paralyzed daughter – a blind son – a dying child.

Oh Capernaum of our time – valley of tears, but also paradise of consolation, mountain of joys. How I wish that you could all spend at least one day at the foot of the miraculous grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, but it is so far, so costly..

But to satisfy at least a little of our desire, in our spirit we paid a visit in praise of our most holy Mother to the place where she wanted a temple, a sanctuary, to be invoked and venerated. In our spirit we knelt to ask for all the blessings we need. In our spirit we joined with those parents who ask for healing for a son, a daughter, conversion for a husband, success in business, relief from pain, the cessation of a crisis, and peace for a family, the state, and the Church. Oh, ask, ask with great fervor. Our Lady, make me see – make me, oh Most Holy Mother, walk – make me, oh Most Holy Mother, speak – make me, oh Most Holy Mother, be healed!

I am the Immaculate Conception, I thought I heard all the time in the city of Lourdes. I am the Immaculate Conception, who performs these miracles by divine power and that of my son Jesus. I am the Immaculate Conception, I want to heal all who suffer, all who are in pain, I want to prepare the way of salvation for all.

Examine whether there is not a pain, a cross for which you seek relief – ask, ask your mother, your Mother of Lourdes, and She will grant it to you with great pleasure, with great joy. If we visit in spirit the place of miracles, let us not forget the words that our mother so solemnly spoke to Bernadette, for her to transmit to all posterity: I am the Immaculate Conception!

And when a mother speaks in this way, we know that Mary means nothing other than that her daughters and sons should imitate her in her holy virtue of innocence and purity. She means nothing other than that her image is clearly reflected in the crystalline mirror of our souls. She means nothing other than that she asks those who love her as sons and daughters to rid themselves of everything that is stained, of everything that is not immaculate in the eyes of God.

She means nothing other than that those who wish to be true sons and daughters of her must be pure in their desires, pure in their words, pure in their love. Therefore, if anyone has the great desire to be heard by our Mother of Lourdes, let him strive to imitate that mother, and I can assure you that material and spiritual miracles will not be long in coming, and the gaze of your heavenly mother rests upon you with the same kindness that rested upon the small, innocent, and humble Bernadette.

So be it!”