Our Lady of Lourdes
KCO Reporter - February 2020
Lourdes Apparitions of Our Lady began in 1858, when a 14 year old peasant girl- Bernadette Soubirous - from Lourdes was visited 18 times by the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Marian apparitions began Feb. 11, 1858, ended July 16 1858.
Bernadette was born in Lourdes on 7 January 1844. She was the eldest of nine children of Francois Soubirous and Louise Casterot. Her father was a miller. Many of Bernadette's siblings died in childhood, and she developed asthma. Economic hardship and an injury suffered by her father cost them the mill in 1854. Due to poverty she had to live spent her childhood with her aunt. At the time of the Apparitions, she was 14 years old and had just returned to Lourdes to prepare for her First Communion. She was not a bright pupil and knew only a few prayers.
Marian Apparitions
On 11 February, 1858, Bernadette went with her sister, Toinette - Marie and a friend, Jeanne Abadie to collect firewood. Afraid to follow the other two across the small Savy Canal, Bernadette paused, and began to take off her stockings. She heard a gust of wind, but nothing moved. Then she saw a Lady at the Grotto nearby. "I saw a Lady dressed in white. She had a white dress girdled with a blue sash, and a yellow rose on each foot, the colour of the chain of her rosary. After that I rubbed my eyes. I thought I must be making a mistake. I put my hand in my pocket and took out my rosary. I tried to make the Sign of the Cross, but I could not lift my hand to my forehead. The Vision made the Sign of the Cross. Then my hand trembled. I tried, and was able to sign myself. I said the rosary. The Vision passed her beads through her fingers, but she did not move her lips. When I had finished my rosary, the Vision suddenly disappeared."
On 14 February, Bernadette's mother was persuaded by the children to allow them to revisit the Grotto. This time Bernadette sprinkled Holy Water at the Lady and she smiled in return.
On 18 February, the Lady spoke and said, "Will you be good enough to come here every day for 15 days?" She also confided to Bernadette: "I do not promise you the happiness of this world but of the next."
On 19 February and 20 February. Bernadette’s mother reluctantly permitted further visits and accompanied her daughter to the Grotto.
On 21 February. On this occasion Bernadette was seen to be in tears. She had been given a message: "Pray for Sinners."
On 23 February. Again the Lady appeared and spoke, and Bernadette’s ecstasy lasted an hour.
On 24 February. On this day Bernadette kissed the ground and turned to the crowd sobbing: "Penance, Penance, Penance."
On 25 February. Bernadette behaved very strangely. She scraped the muddy ground with her hands, and tried to drink and wash. People thought that she had gone insane. However, the Lady had said, "Go and drink at the spring and wash in it." By next day there was a steady flow of water.
On 27 February. Bernadette received a command: "Go tell the priests to build a chapel here." She informed the Parish Priest, Abbe Peyramale. He told her to ask the Lady’s name, when she appears next time.
On 28 February and 1 March. The Lady appeared but gave no message.
On 2 March. She gave another message for the priests: "Go and tell the priests to build a chapel here, and to come here in procession." Poor Bernadette visited Abbe Peyramale again he again asked for the Lady’s identity.
On 3 March. There was no apparition in the morning, but later in the afternoon the Lady came.
On 4 March. There was no further message, although it was the final day of the promised fifteen days.
Three weeks passed by until the Feast of the Annunciation when it was felt she would come.
On 25 March. Bernadette felt a strong urge to ask the Lady her name, which she did four times. The Lady joined her hands over her breast, and said: "I am the Immaculate Conception."
On 7 April. There was no message. But it was remarkable for the fact that while she was in ecstasy, a bystander held a candle flame to her fingers for fifteen minutes, without any trace of burn.
On 16 July, Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Our Lady appeared for the last time even though the Grotto had been barricaded by the authorities.
After the Apparitions
Two years after the Apparitions Bernadette was sent to stay at the hospice of the Sisters of Nevers in Lourdes. There she remained until she entered the novitiate of the Order, in the town of Nevers in 1866. She left Lourdes to join a religious order in France, where she died after several years of illness.
In 1862 the Episcopal Commission had declared that the events at Lourdes had all the marks of truth and were worthy of belief. In 1864 the statue of Mary was placed in the Grotto and blessed. And in 1866, the Crypt, the first "Chapel", was blessed, and Mass was celebrated.
Though hundreds of people cured at Lourdes, Bernadette always had poor health and great suffering. During 1875 her already weak health deteriorated and she was bedridden for the remaining three years. She died on April 16, 1879. Bernadette Soubirous was declared Blessed in 1925 and a Saint in 1933.
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