At the Sanctuary of Lourdes in France, pilgrims drink water from the spring, wash their faces and fill containers to take home. The water is free and may not be sold. Eighteen drinking fountains beside the Grotto recall the number of Marian apparitions.
A 2022 Sanctuary health protocol gave explicit instructions to people collecting water: “join the queue,” follow floor markings and sanitise their hands. It also specified a sequence for opening a container and placing it beneath an automatic tap without touching the fixture. A devotional resource was distributed through thoroughly modern waiting management.
The Lourdes line is not waiting for an expensive commodity. The Sanctuary itself explains that scientific tests have found no special properties in the freely available spring water. Yet because so many pilgrims want to carry it home, eighteen fountains and lines on the floor turn a personal act of faith into an order that can be shared with strangers.