Basilica Why do churches become basilicas? Signs and Miracles
 Some basilicas are built because a miracle or special sign took place. The Basilica of Lourdes' in France is built at the place where a girl who is now called St. Bernadette had a vision of the Virgin Mary. The basilica at Lourdes is one of the most important pilgrimage places in France. Sometimes the sign is not so strange as a vision. It contained a little statue of the Christ Child and had been left behind by some Spanish or Portuguese explorers many years earlier.