World Day of the Sick

This day is meant to encourage people to help those who suffer from illness. When proclaiming this day, the Pope John Paul II had in mind helping caregivers in numerous Catholic hospitals, Catholics and members of the civil society feel the need to provide care to the sick. World Day of the Sick was first observed on February 11, 1993. February 11 is also the Catholic Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, which a name is given to the Virgin Mary in honor of the apparitions that were said to have been seen in and around Lourdes, France, by a young girl called Bernadette Soubirous.