Our Lady of Lourdes Church

Gold and dark brown illustration of a statue with text around it

In 1854, Pope Pius IX issued the doctrine of the Virgin Mary’s birth by Immaculate Conception, in an apostolic constitution titled Ineffabilis Deus. In 1858, a girl named Bernadette Soubirous had a serious of visions of a young lady, who identified herself as “the Immaculate Conception.” The Catholic Church recognized the visions as legitimate in 1862, and Bernadette Soubirous’s experience have since drawn millions of people to Lourdes.

Father Bernard J. Reilly, who would later preside over the Queens Village parish in New York City, served in France during World War I. There, he visited the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in the south of France. Evidently, the visit made an impression on him, and the parish was named for the Virgin of Lourdes when it first opened in 1924. The original building is still in use today for services, though the multi-ethnic parish has outgrown the older chapel and more buildings have been added.