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Lourdes, one of the most visited shrines in the world, holds a special place in the hearts of many. On February 11th, 1858, Bernadette Soubirous, her sister Toinette, and a friend of theirs, Jeanne, went looking for wood on the meadows that led towards “the place where the canal re-joins the River Gave”.  This was an area where driftwood sometimes washed up and they could get firewood. Toinette and Jeanne crossed the icy water crying out with the cold, Bernadette hesitated to do this because of her chronic asthma. She remained behind near the Grotto….a dirty, hidden, damp and cold place. It was called the “pigs’ shelter” because that was where the pigs feeding in the area usually took shelter from the cold.  Bernadette suddenly heard “a noise like a gust of wind”, but “none of the trees were moving”.  Raising her head, she saw, in a hollow of the rock a small young lady, who looked at her and who smiled.  This was the first apparition….but the lady did not speak or identify herself.

On February 14th, Bernadette had felt called to return to the grotto, and after convincing her mother that she would be safe, she set out for the grotto, taking a bottle of holy water with her to spray on the apparition if it was from the devil. The lady appeared to her, which was the second apparition.  Bernadette threw some holy water on the apparition, but the lady only smiled and did not speak.

On February 18th the third apparition took place, and the Virgin Mary spoke for the first time, making three statements.

The first statement:  A neighbour suggested she take a paper and pencil to write down the lady’s name (although Bernadette could barely read or write).  Bernadette held out a sheet of paper and a pencil so that she might write down her name, but the Lady replied: “what I have to say to you does not have to be written down“.  This was the first statement she made that day.

The second statement of the Virgin Mary was: “Would you do me the kindness of coming here for 15 days?” Bernadette was overwhelmed. It was the first time that anyone had addressed her in a formal way. Bernadette described these words by saying that the Virgin looked at her “as one person looks at another person”.

The third statement of the Virgin was: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world but in the next.”

There were additional apparitions reported which have not all been listed here.
The ninth apparition was really the culmination of the apparitions at Lourdes, the Lady asked Bernadette to scrape the ground at the back of this “pigs’ shelter”, saying to her : “Go to the spring, drink of it and wash yourself there“. She moved on her knees to the back of the Grotto, kissed the dirty disgusting ground and ate some bitter grass. She scraped the ground three times trying to drink the muddy water, then smeared mud on her face. Then she turned to the crowd with her hands apart. There was only a little muddy water to begin with for Bernadette to drink, then little by little it became clear running water.

The miraculous spring was finally revealed, and has continued to flow ever since, providing water for the physical healing of some, and spiritual healing for millions. Then, during the thirteenth apparition, March 25, 1858, The crowd became, larger and larger. The Lady told her her: “Go and tell the priests that people are to come here in procession and to build a chapel here.”

Bernadette spoke of this to Fr. Peyramale, the Parish Priest of Lourdes. He wanted to know only one thing: the Lady’s name. He demanded another test; to see the wild rose bush flower at the Grotto in the middle of winter. Three times Bernadette asked the question. On the fourth request, the Lady responded in dialect “Que soy era Immaculada Conceptiou”. (“I am the Immaculate Conception“).
With these words the Mother of God confirmed what Pope Pius IX had proclaimed as the dogma of the Immaculate Conception four years earlier in 1854. Bernadette, who had never heard of this title, didn’t understand the meaning of these words, but went to the priest to tell him the Lady’s name.

He knew immediately that it was the Mother of God, and the Bishop of Tarbes, Monseigneur Laurence, confirmed this. The Immaculate Conception is, as the Church teaches, “Mary, conceived without sin, thanks to the merits of the Cross of Christ”

ABOUT THE LIFE OF SAINT BERNADETTE
Frail in health, Bernadette was the eldest of nine children from a poverty-stricken family; her father was a miller. She contracted cholera in the epidemic of 1854 and suffered from asthma and other ailments throughout her life. After the apparitions of Our Lady, to escape public attention, she became a boarder in the local school run by the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. In 1866 she was granted admission into the novitiate in the motherhouse at Nevers. There she completed her religious instruction and passed her remaining years in prayer and seclusion, happy and loved for her kindliness, holiness, and wit, despite almost constant sickness and pain. She died in agony, willingly accepting her great sufferings in faithful fulfillment of her “Lady’s” request for penance.
She was canonized by Pope Pius XI, who authenticated her visions and the veneration of Mary as Our Lady of Lourdes. Celebration of her feast is optional in the Roman calendar, though Lourdes is a major pilgrimage centre for those seeking healing. The chapel of the St. Gildard convent, Nevers, contains her body, which is said to be incorrupt.