Our Lady of Lourdes

Bernadette and the first meeting

Bernadette was fourteen years old. Her family’s severe poverty and her recurring asthma were real burdens, but the shrine also remembers the affection of her family, her lively intelligence, and her strong character. On February 11, 1858, she went with her sister and a friend to Massabielle to gather wood and bones. There she saw a Lady clothed in white. Bernadette made the Sign of the Cross and prayed the Rosary; when the prayer ended, the Lady disappeared.

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes · Bernadette Soubirous, her testimony and religious life · Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes · The eighteen apparitions

Eighteen apparitions, one faithful witness

On February 18 the Lady spoke to Bernadette and asked her to return for a fortnight. Bernadette kept coming, despite questioning and opposition. Some visits were marked by silence; others brought words or gestures she was to carry out. The final apparition occurred on July 16. Because access to the grotto was barred, Bernadette looked toward it from the far side of the Gave. The series ended, but the vocation it had awakened continued.

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes · The eighteen apparitions

Penance and prayer for sinners

On February 24, Mary called for penance and prayer for sinners. Bernadette’s acts of humility and penance were undertaken for that intention. The shrine explains this call as conversion: turning the heart toward God and toward one’s neighbor. The faithful are invited to seek forgiveness and pray for those who need God’s mercy. Mary’s tenderness toward Bernadette accompanies this serious summons.

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes · The Message of Lourdes

The spring at Massabielle

During the ninth apparition, on February 25, Mary directed Bernadette to drink at the spring and wash there. Bernadette first found muddy water as she scraped the ground. From this event comes the pilgrim’s gesture of drinking and washing at Lourdes. The shrine places the water within prayer and faith: pilgrims ask God for grace as they remember Mary’s invitation.

The water remains freely available at the sanctuary. Pilgrims may drink and wash there, or take water home for themselves and their loved ones. The shrine presents these gestures as acts of faith and prayer, entrusting the needs of body and soul to God.

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes · The Water of Lourdes · Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes · The eighteen apparitions

March 25: Mary gives her name

At the sixteenth apparition, on the feast of the Annunciation, Bernadette asked the Lady her name. Mary answered in the local language: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Bernadette repeated the unfamiliar words as she hurried to the parish priest. The name identified the Lady and placed Lourdes within the Church’s praise of the grace God had bestowed on Mary.

Mary’s Immaculate Conception concerns the beginning of her own life: by a special grace, God preserved her from original sin in view of the merits of Jesus Christ. St. Pius X explains this grace in Ad Diem Illum §§18–19 and urges those who honor Mary to turn away from sin. Pius IX had defined the dogma in 1854; Pius XII later recalled its close connection with the words spoken at Lourdes.

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes · The Message of Lourdes · St. Pius X · Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum (1904), §§1, 18–19: the Immaculate Conception and conversion · Pope Pius XII · Le Pèlerinage de Lourdes (1957), especially §§10–21, 35–42, 54–58

A chapel and a people at prayer

On March 2, Mary sent Bernadette to the priests with the request that people come in procession and that a chapel be built. Pilgrimage gives this request a continuing public form: people gather to pray together and worship God. Pius XII’s centenary letter joined devotion at Lourdes to renewed sacramental life, Christian conduct, and the Church’s apostolate. The grace sought at the grotto is meant to bear fruit after the pilgrim returns home.

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes · The eighteen apparitions · Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes · The mission to welcome pilgrims and Mary’s request for a chapel · Pope Pius XII · Le Pèlerinage de Lourdes (1957), especially §§10–21, 35–42, 54–58

Bernadette carries Lourdes into her life

Bernadette later entered the Sisters of Charity of Nevers and became Sister Marie-Bernard. She cared for the sick and persevered in prayer as her own health declined. She never returned to the grotto, yet continued to live its message through sacrifice and intercession for sinners. She died at Nevers on April 16, 1879, aged thirty-five, and was canonized on December 8, 1933. Her witness continues beyond the eighteen apparitions in a life given to God.

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes · Bernadette Soubirous, her testimony and religious life