St. Bernadette & Lourdes

Bernadette Soubirous was born on January 7, 1844 in Lourdes, France. She died April 16, 1879, of natural causes in Nevers, France. She was the oldest of nine children (only six survived into adulthood); her family was very poor and headed by Francois Soubirous and Louise Casterot. On February 11, 1858 at the grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes, she received a vision of a beautiful young woman, whom she recognized only later as the Blessed Virgin Mary. They prayed the rosary together. She saw Mary seventeen more times in the next five months; during one of the visions, Bernadette was directed to a small spring (mostly mud) and the beautiful lady instructed her to wash her face in it and drink. That muddy water became a spring which still provides water in abundance.

Bernadette frequently asked the beautiful woman for her name, but the lady did not respond. Near the end of the series of visions, the lady finally did respond by saying: "I am the Immaculate Conception". Bernadette, illiterate and with little instruction in the faith, could not have known that, four years earlier, the dogma that the Virgin Mary was kept free from original sin at the moment of her conception had been defined by Pope Pius IX.

At the age of 16, Bernadette moved into a house for the poor and the sick in Lourdes run by the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. There, she worked and also received her first schooling, starting by learning to read and write. She desired to become a Sister of Charity, and, at age 22, she was admitted to the sisters' motherhouse in Nevers. In 1866, she made vows as a sister, taking the name Sr. Marie-Bernarde. She persevered in her vocation even though she was often sick and faced many other trials. Sr. Marie-Bernarde lived a life of prayer and holiness, placing her trust in God and the Blessed Virgin until her death.

Bernadette died on April 16, 1879, with a prayer on her lips for the Virgin Mary's aid. After investigations by Church authorities, the apparitions were declared authentic. During examinations of her remains years after her death, her body was found to be incorrupt. St. Bernadette was declared blessed on June 14, 1921 by Pope Pius XI. The same Pope canonized St. Bernadette on December 8, 1933, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Her feast is celebrated as an optional memorial on April 16.