Saint Bernadette of Lourdes

Saint Bernadette of Lourdes

Born: January 7^th, 1844, Lourdes, France

Died: 16^th April 1879

Feast Day: 16^th April

Patron Saint: Mortal & Chronic Sickness

Shrine: Lourdes, St Gildards Convent, Nevers

Canonized: 8^th December 1933 by Pope Pius XI

Bernadette was born on 7^th January 1844 in Lourdes, France, the first of 9 children to an extremely poor family.  Her father was a miller. She was baptised 2 days later at St Pierre’s church.  As a young child Bernadette contracted cholera and suffered from extreme asthma.

She had her first vision of the Virgin Mary in 1858 on February 11^th at the age of 14 when out collecting firewood in a grotto called Massabielle (Tuta de Massavielha). Mary wore blue and white and smiled at Bernadette before making the sign of the cross with an ivory and gold rosary.  Bernadette got to her knees and said the rosary.

3 days later Bernadette again saw the vision and fell into a trance.  On 18^th February, Mary asked Bernadette to visit the Grotto every day for a fortnight. Bernadette’s parents tried to stop her from going but could not. On February 25^th Mary asked Bernadette to drink the water, to wash in it and to eat the herb that grew there.  The next day the Grotto’s muddy water became clear.

Bernadette asked Mary her name 4 times in all when she finally said “I am the Immaculate Conception”.

On reporting her various visions, civil authorities tried to make her deny her account.  She refused and word soon got around about the cave with the springs which produced miracle healings.  Many thought Bernadette was suffering from a mental illness and needed to pray for penance. She was helped to build the church which was described in one of the visions on March 2^nd, by Napoleon III’s wife.

To escape public attention, she moved into a school run by the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, she became a novitiate in 1866 and was known for her humility.

Lourdes is one of the most visited pilgrimages in the World.  After the death of Bernadette her body was exhumed after 30 years and found to be incorrupt.  It was again exhumed in 1925 when the Doctor commented "What struck me during this examination, of course, was the state of perfect preservation of the skeleton, the fibrous tissues of the muscles (still supple and firm), of the ligaments, and of the skin, and above all the totally unexpected state of the liver after 46 years. One would have thought that this organ, which is basically soft and inclined to crumble, would have decomposed very rapidly, or would have hardened to a chalky consistency. Yet, when it was cut it was soft and almost normal in consistency. I pointed this out to those present, remarking that this did not seem to be a natural phenomenon."

References: Bernadette Soubirous (lourdes-france.org)

Saint Bernadette of Lourdes | Biography, Life Story, Miracles, Patron Saint Of, Facts, Body, & Feast Day | Britannica St. Bernadette - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

Saint Bernadette of Lourdes - Saint - Biography