Excerpt from the book :  "The Holy Family In Egypt" written by Otto Meinardus  
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"And when they [the wise men from the east] were departed, behold the angel of
the Lord appeareth to Joseph  in  a dream,  saying, Arise,  and take the young
child and his mother, and flee  into Egypt, and  be  thou there until  I bring
thee word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.  When he arose,
he took the young Child and  His mother by night and  departed into Egypt; and
was there until  the death  of Herod, that  it   might be fulfilled which  was
spoken  of  the Lord  by the  prophet, saying,  Out of Egypt  I called My Son"
(Matt. 2:13-15).

Before  the  Holy Family together  with Salome,  the midwife,   departed  from
Bethlehem, they remained for a while in a grotto, which is situated south-east
of the Basilica of the Nativity.  This grotto known to the  Arabs as 'Magharet
as-Saiyidah', the   Grotto of  the  Lady,  is  an ancient  sanctuary  which is
venerated by Christians and Muslims alike.  An Armenian tradition relates that
the Blessed Virgin Mary on her flight to Egypt stopped  there and  suckled her
Child.  Some drops of  her milk fell on the  rock,  and it immediately  turned
white.  There is a good reason to believe that a church was built on this site
by St. Paula, who lived in Bethlehem and died there in 404 A.D.  Though it was
first dedicated to the Virgin  Mother, the church  was later  known as that of
St. Paula.   In the fourteenth  century,  it belonged  to the   Greeks and was
dedicated to St.  Nicholas, and  eventually it passed  into Latin hands.  This
grotto has  supplied the soft white stones,  known as the Virgin's Milk, which
can be  found  in many Latin  churches throughout Europe.  The  present church
built of the Grotto was dedicated in 1872.  The Grotto is  a favorite place of
pilgrimage for women, on account of  the milk-white rock, which is  prized for
its healing power and as an aid  to lactation.  Women  pilgrims take away with
them pieces of this soft rock, which having ground into  powder, they mix with
water and drink.


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