Switzerland. Canton Ticino. Tesserete is a village and is part of the municipality Capriasca. A sign fixed on the wall forbids any climbing on the rocks. A rock copy of the "Lourdes Cave" was built by Father Carlo Mondini near Tesserete's church. Our Lady of Lourdes is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated in honour of the Marian apparitions that occurred in 1858 in the vicinity of Lourdes in France. The first of these is the apparition of 11 February 1858, when 14-year old Bernadette Soubirous told her mother that a "lady" spoke to her in the cave of Massabielle (a kilometre and a half from the town) while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend Similar apparitions of the "Lady" were reported on eighteen occasions that year, until the climax revelation of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception took place. A statue of the Virgin Mary with hands joined in prayer. Mary was a first-century Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph, and the mother of Jesus, according to the canonical gospels. The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament describe Mary as a virgin. According to Christian theology she conceived Jesus through the Holy Spirit while still a virgin. According to Catholic and Eastern Christian teachings, at the end of her earthly life God raised her body directly into heaven; this is known in the Christian West as the Assumption. Mary has been venerated since early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion. The Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her status as the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, and her Assumption into heaven. 1.06.2020 © 2020 Didier Ruef