St. Bernadette Soubirous, Pray for Us
Bernadette Soubirous was born January 7, 1844, in Lourdes, France. She was the oldest of nine children, most of whom died at young ages. The family was extremely poor. While still a small child, Bernadette contracted cholera and struggled with awfully bad asthma which continued the rest of her life. Constant illness may have been the reason for her small size as she stood only 4 feet 7 inches tall. By the time Bernadette was 14, her family was in such dire circumstances they were living in a one-room basement once used as a jail.
On February 11, 1858, she went out to gather firewood with one of her sisters and a friend near the grotto of Massabielle. While there, an extraordinary thing happened to Bernadette. She suddenly heard a rushing wind but saw nothing moving except a wild rose in a niche of the grotto. A dazzling light and white figure emerged from the alcove behind the niche. Her sister and friend saw nothing. Three days later, Bernadette returned to the grotto with another sister and friends. She saw the vision again, knelt and fell into a trance. Again, the other girls did not see the apparition. She returned to the grotto again on February 18. This time the vision asked her to return to the grotto each day for two weeks. Almost the entire time the visions (18 in total) occurred. Bernadette never identified the apparition as the Virgin Mary. It was not until the sixteenth vision that the white-veiled woman identified herself as the Virgin Mary, saying “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
During her vision on February 25, Bernadette claimed the apparition told her “to drink of the water of the spring, to wash in it and to eat the herb that grew there.”. Bernadette did as the woman asked her, and the next day the water of the grotto that was once muddy was now flowing, clear water. It would later become the place at Lourdes where millions of pilgrims pray and drink from the miraculous water to obtain healing. What else did Mary ask for during Bernadette’s visions? She asked for a small chapel to be built for her on the site and a procession to be formed. Mary focused her message to Bernadette on the need for prayer and penance.
Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers at the age of 22. She died at the age of 35 after suffering long-term illness and was canonized on December 8th, 1933. Her body is placed in the Chapel of St. Bernadette at Nevers, France.
The Marian Apparitions at Lourdes are approved by the Catholic Church. The healing water of Lourdes has cured many miraculously. Today, millions of pilgrims from all over the world visit Lourdes annually.
Let Us Pray with St. Bernadette Soubirous
“O Jesus, give me I pray …
the bread of humility, the bread of obedience, the bread of charity,
the bread of strength to break my will, and make it one with yours,
the bread of patience to bear the pain my heart endures,
the bread to see you and you alone in all things and always!
I put my hope in you, Lord.
Be my house of refuge because you are my strength.”
Amen.
Fr. Vidal Martinez, OSM
