In Myanmar there is widespread devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Every year thousands of people including non-Christians make the pilgrimage to the Shrine with deep devotion. The celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes dates to the arrival of the first missionaries from France. In 1892, Bishop Ambrose Bigandet opened a mission at Nyaunglebin, entrusting it to the care of Father Michael Mignon, a member of the Parish Foreign Missions Society who built a small wooden church, the first in Myanmar to be dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1902 a new church was built and consecrated. In 1918 a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was set in a nearby cave to represent the grotto in Lourdes.