Lourdes shrine under heavy guard

LOURDES, France—Catholic pilgrims from around the world, many sick or disabled, converged on Monday at a shrine in the French town of Lourdes under exceptional security after recent extremist attacks.

Armed soldiers and police patrolled the train station, town center and inside the sanctuary at Lourdes, where a 19th-century village girl said she had visions of the Virgin Mary.

The site in southern France near the Spanish border draws pilgrims of all kinds, some hoping for a cure from the famous spring water in the Lourdes grotto.

As a helicopter circled overhead, visitors bearing candles and banners streamed toward the grotto and the sprawling plaza of the basilica, apparently undeterred by new security restrictions or the recent attacks.

Crowds began gathering at the sanctuary before dawn on Monday for a series of outdoor Masses in multiple languages celebrating the Feast of the Assumption, when according to Catholic belief, Jesus’ mother, Mary, ascended into heaven.

Thousands attended a can- dlelight procession on Sunday night, though the route was reduced from past years to better protect believers.

French authorities had already been planning extra security for the annual holiday, but concerns mounted after a series of attacks in July around Europe—notably on July 26 in northwest France, in which two extremists claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group stormed a morning Mass, slit an elderly priest’s throat and took nuns and parishioners hostage.