Dozens of people visit the grotto at St. Lucy's catholic church in New York every day, bringing containers to fill. The water, dispensed by the city of New York and blessed by priests, is believed to work miracles.

New York ? The clear cascade spilling over smooth rocks at a Bronx church grotto is New York tap water, but the people who come here believe it heals.

Every day, dozens flock to the stream beneath the statue of the Virgin Mary at St. Lucy’s Catholic Church, a replica of Our Lady of Lourdes in France where many believe miracles have unfolded. Toting empty baby bottles, flasks, wine jugs, water and juice bottles, even gallon jugs, they douse their heads in the water, rinse their faces, pour it on their cars, and nudge their children and dogs under the flow.

Since 1939, people have come here from around the world to pray for cures to cancer, or to rescue loved ones from their death beds. The coveted water once came from a natural spring, church leaders say, but the spring dried up long ago, forcing them to switch to city water blessed by priests.

People still believe it performs miracles, and their faith is enough to keep them coming. In recent months, many people making their way to this grotto have been hoping the water will bring them mercy from a crippling economy: They are asking the water to help bring them jobs, and money for groceries and rent.

“Food prices are ridiculous,” said Marlene Rosario, 35, who soaked herself on a recent afternoon. “Prices go up and jobs are going nowhere. Milk is $5 a gallon. Eggs are higher.”

It was Rosario’s first time visiting the grotto, and she came to pray for a better job because she can barely support her three children as a home health aide these days.

“I had to go today,” said Rosario, carrying empty margarine tubs she planned to fill with water. “Something was telling me, go, go.”

Tattooed men, high-school couples, schoolchildren in uniforms, senior citizens with canes, homeless people, and tourists enter through rusted gates, tracing the sign of cross on their bodies and kneeling before the statue of the Virgin Mary. Eight benches across the courtyard face the waterfall, where a husband talks of how the water cured his wife’s aching ankles, and an elderly woman dabs a wet tissue on her deaf friend’s ears.

Drops from the stream trickle on candles flickering in blue holders. Bouquets of orchids, carnations and roses peek from cracks inside the rocks.

“I’ve been coming ever since I was little,” said Elizabeth Ayala, 47. “I take a bath with it, clean the house with it.”

Lately, she’s been praying that the water will help her with hardships.

“In my job, I’m getting less hours : It’s gotten bad. I’m scared,” said Ayala, who recently applied for food stamps for the first time in her life.

“You have to keep your faith,” she said, “or everything will fall apart.”

Anthony Rivera, 51, drove an hour from Fishkill to cart home gallons of the water. He dunked his bulky body in it.

Rivera recently got laid off from his job. He hopes the water will bring him luck.

“I feel revived and I feel spiritually uplifted again,” he said, before splashing it on his blue Saturn, rosary beads hanging on its rearview mirror.

“This economy is going down, down, down. This is the way of the world, and we’ve got to survive some way.”