Virginie Haudebourg suffered from chronic nephritis with proteinuria, hypertension, and gross anasarca. By 1908 she had been bedridden for an extended period and the physicians had judged the condition irreversible.
She came to Lourdes on the September 1908 pilgrimage. Bathed in the piscines she was instantly cured: the oedema resolved over the following days, the proteinuria disappeared, and she returned to normal life. The cure was recognised by the local ordinary as one of the cures on the official Lourdes list.