Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Bernadette Soubirous was born to a poor family in Lourdes, in southern France, on January 7, 1844. Her family lived in a small dark cottage that had once been a jail. Bernadette was often sick and had a hard time at school. One day the 14-year old Bernadette went with some friends to gather firewood. Suddenly, in a cave beside a river, she saw a beautiful Lady wearing a blue and white dress and floating above a rose bush. The Lady smiled at Bernadette and made the sign of the cross with a golden rosary. Bernadette knelt down and began to pray.

Crowds began to follow Bernadette to the cave as the Virgin Mary’s visits continued. Our Lady appeared a total 18 times to Bernadette, revealing herself as the Immaculate Conception. Our Lady asked Bernadette to dig at a spot near the grotto, and suddenly a fresh cool spring of healing waters began to flow. Mary asked Bernadette to have a chapel built by the spot, so people could come there to wash and drink. The water from this spring, which now flows at the rate of 32,000 gallons a day, continues to bear remarkable healing power, bringing medically documented healings to many people, and deep spiritual healing to countless more.

Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, France, and died there in 1879 at the young age of 35 from tuberculosis. Lourdes has become the most famous modern shrine of Our Lady. Each year more than five million people come to the grotto of Massabielle, in Lourdes, to pray, honor Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and seek healing of spirit, soul, and body.

The response of so many has made Lourdes a Town of Friendship, a world center of pilgrimage, and a special place where God meets His people.

Pope Pius XI canonized Saint Bernadette in 1933, and to this day, her exhumed body remains entirely and miraculously incorrupt, at her convent in Nevers, France.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us