Bernadette
Soubirous, baptized Marie Bernarde, was the oldest of a family of six,
the daughter of a miller, François Soubirous and his wife, Louise
Casteròt. They lived in Lourdes, a small town in the French Pyrenees.
Hit
by hard times, her father had to give up the mill and move the family
into the only lodging available, a former prison. "Le cachot" or "the
dungeon," was damp and cold. Always sickly, Bernadette had contracted
cholera as a child and suffered from severe asthma attacks. Considered a
slow learner, she had the simplicity of a dove, was good, patient, and
nothing but honest.
On February 11, 1858 while out with her
sister and two friends, her companions skipped over stones to cross the
River Gave to gather sticks for fuel near the grotto of Massabielle.
Hesitant
about wading into the frigid water, the asthmatic Bernadette was seated
on a rock when a sudden gust of wind made her look up. In the grotto
she beheld a luminous lady, dressed in white with a blue sash around her
waist, golden roses on her feet and a rosary over her arm.
Report
of the vision caused a commotion, and people began to accompany
Bernadette to the grotto where, altogether, there were eighteen
apparitions in a period of two months. On March 25 the lady revealed
herself as “The Immaculate Conception”, four years after the definition
of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The Virgin’s message was one
of prayer and personal conversion and she also asked for a church to be
built and that people come on pilgrimage.
During one of the
apparitions, Bernadette suddenly began to dig inside the grotto, from
whence emerged a fountain that flows abundantly today. Its water has
worked countless cures, though only 67 are officially recognized by the
Church and medicine.
After the apparitions, though her father’s
life improved with offers of work, Bernadette’s was continuously
harassed by visitors and ecclesiastical inquiries.
In
1866 she entered the convent of Notre Dame de Nevers where, despite her
delicate health, she served as infirmarian and sacristan. Developing
painful, fatal tuberculosis of the bone, Bernadette suffered patiently
until her death at age thirty-five on April 16, 1879. She died
reaffirming the veracity of the apparitions.
Today, Lourdes is
one of the most visited and beloved Catholic shrines in the world.
Bernadette’s body lies in the convent chapel in Nevers, miraculously
incorrupt.
Friday, April 16, 2021
St. Bernadette Soubirous
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment