Dear Friends,
Yesterday my family purchased a 2 Ft. 7 inch statue of Our Lady of Lourdes made of concrete, (for use in the backyard).
We would like to build a nice grotto (cave-like structure for it), that is not too big. However there one small problem; that is that we do not know how to build it!
Can anyone give suggestions for this project and perhaps a picture of their own home Lourdes grotto?
Thank you,
Greetings and prayers for all your intentions,
Mary Ann
(Australia)
Novena to St Philomena the Wonderworker for the healing of autism: homestead.com/missionbell/novenaforautisticchildren.html
Each person, whose name is sent to be included in this novena, will be prayed for on a regular basis by a priest of Lourdes, France. Only the first name of the person is required for the purpose of this novena.
Thanks for this website - I recently learned that the girl who grew up next door to me (like a daughter to me) was told that one of her twins is autistic. I have added his name.
I don’t know how to do a grotto - I looked up Mary Gardens when I finaly got my statute and then I looked for as many of the flowers listed as I could to plant around the statute. The grotto idea sounds great I’ll be looking for some info on it.
My name is Anthony (Tony) I live in Connecticut USA, I am a stone mason by trade. As you know the Grotto at Lourdes is a very rustic setting. Our Lady appeared in the midst of a stone backdrop. You don’t need to be a stone mason just be creative, use stones that can be handled easily and randomly place them around where you will be placing the Statue. In the back of the statue you can pile some rocks to give it a cliff effect and try to place the statue on a flat stone to keep it off the ground. Leave large enough spaces between the stones to plant flowers or shrubs; our Lady likes roses. I hope this is helpful, a little prayer for some Divine inspiration might not hurt.
Also if you can protect the the statue from the elements it will last longer.
God Bless, Tony
Here is a thread I made a while back of my “Lady of Lourdes” forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=160886
I’m still trying to figure out how to build something around her. For now she is in my living room. I would love to see what you end up making.
Absolutely beautiful, gorgeous Lourdes grotto!!! May the Lord bless you richly for showing such honor to his Beloved Mother. :heaven: :blessyou:
I wish I had a backyard so I could build one! I tried to build one in my home using pebbles but the cement mix smell and the powder particles were too overpowering so the idea got nixed. But ,alas, Our Lady sensed how disappointed I was and the next day when I drove down a street in my town I had never driven down before, lo and behold there was a grotto dealer!! I took it as a sign from Our lady and bought one on the spot!
Here’s a photo of the little grotto I bought.
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I wanted to ask you whether you had built this shrine yourself or hired someone to do it?
I couldn’t imagine myself being able to lug around all of those large pieces of stone. :eek: even if I did have a wheel-cart. If you did it yourself would you mind giving a brief how-to on how it was done?
We built the shrine with some help. Here are the dimensions of the arch.
The span of the arch is 5 feet wide. The height is 7 foot 3 inches and it has a width of 2 foot 2 inches.
We used 2 lengths of galvanised 1 inch steel pipe, each measuring approximately 17 feet long.
Both of the steel pipes were bent was made into an arch shape at a factory. Each of the steel pipes begins to arch at the 5 Foot level.
We used two 2 inch x 2 inch x 2 foot 4 inch galvanised fence posts for the base. These were placed on each side of the arch.
We used 3 inch x 2 inch lattice rectangular galvanised steel fence inlay, (which was cut from an old galvanised fence.) Its thickness is three sixteenths of an inch. The inlay was welded (by a friend) into the two steel pipe arches and to the fence post bases. The two steel pipe arches were positioned 2 feet 2 inches apart.
The directions will make more sense if the picture of my Lourdes shrine is carefully studied. I will put it in here:
The statue is 2ft 7 inches and is made of concrete. It was painted with white semi gloss paint (including an undercoat of white paint). It is mounted on sandstones which are cemented together.
We have planted Bougainvilleas which will eventually grow and cover the arch with greenery and flowers.
The plant in front of the statue is called Lemon squash and it is surrounded by sandstones to make a rockery garden.
Unrelated but useful information:
The powerful intercession of the Holy Souls in Purgatory for their benefactors and ways to help them
The web page has accounts of the intercession of The Holy Souls in Purgatory, for their benefactors in cases of illness, addictions, cars that won’t start, infertility problems, protection in accidents, conversion, chronic insomnia, their help for people who are experiencing major trouble with city councils, success with projects, employment, real estate, television sets that don’t work properly, finding lost property and trouble with relations, etc. and prayers and ideas on how to help The Holy Souls in Purgatory.
Novena to St Philomena the Wonder Worker for the healing of autism
Each person (who has autism or an autism related condition) whose name is sent to be included in this novena will be prayed for regularly by a priest of Lourdes, France at the grotto. Only the first name of the person is needed for the purpose of this novena. Everyone is invited to send names: parents, grandparents, teachers, doctors, aunties, therapists etc.
The novena is held twice every month from: the 1st to the 9th of the Month and from the 10th to the 18th of the month.
(My oldest child received a big healing from autism through prayer).
Thank you for taking the time to describe in detail the entire process for creating such a wonderfully beautiful grotto shrine in honor or Our Lady. I got tuckered out just in reading your description and imagining all the work that went into it! Our Lady must be looking down from heaven at your grotto with a smile that could melt a million hearts. :angel1: :heaven:
I have seen a grotto made from an old bath. The bath is anchored upright into the soil and our lady is placed inside it. Greenery is planted around it to obscure the fact that it is a bath.
Thanks Yinekka Even though I didn’t really do any work other than pay for the grotto and take it home. I hope that my having broken my back carrying the 40 lb cement grotto up 5 flights of stairs to my apartment counts for some labor points with Our Lady. lol
I am going to be making a grotto next month.
I used to own a masonry company in the USA and have experience in this type of structure.
You can either build a form of plywood and then mix concrete and mortar to a 50/50 consitancy then start to lay stone or brick on top of the form making sure all of the stone or brick are cemented together.
After a few days, when the job has been completed you can remove the plywood forms and you should have a nice grotto.
It is a little more complicated than what I told you but all you need is faith and patience…lol
Maybe I can send you some pictures of the one that I will be doing as I construct it.
I have seen this too.
The one I saw was an old “claw foot” tub, partly buried in the ground and had stones piled up around it so that it was a white porcelain cubby for Mary surrounded by stones. Quite nice.
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I would love to see what you end up making.
