The beautiful Lady of Lourdes, Bernadette Soubirous, the hallowed cave on a huge cliff of Massabielle at the foothills of Pyrenees mountain range, which separate France and Spain—these will forever be associated with the celebrated appearances of the Blessed Mother in 1858.
Holy Mother Church recognized Bernadette as a saint of humility, simplicity, common sense and Our Lady’s Little Confidante.
Of the Blessed Mother, Bernadette said: “She is so beautiful that when one had seen her, it is impossible to love anything else on Earth.”
First apparition
They needed firewood, said Louise Casterot Soubirous, Bernadette’s mother. With sister Toinette and neighbour Jeanne, they had to look for firewood on February 11, 1858.
The three girls went first to a road leading to the cemetery, where woods were unloaded and wood shavings were left.
Finding nothing, they went to Pont Vieux, down the Gave River, took the forest road and arrived at Merlasse. Passing through Monsieur dela Fitte’s field by the mill of Savy, opposite the grotto of Massabielle, the two crossed the canal with Bernadette trailing behind.
Bernadette was taking off her socks when she heard a loud noise akin to a storm. Then she saw a rosebud at the opening of the rock moved. Out of the interior of the grotto a golden-colored cloud emerged, followed by a beautiful lady.
In disbelief, Bernadette rubbed her eyes, closed and opened them, but the Lady was still there, smiling.
Bernadette got her rosary, fell on her knees, tried to make the sign of the cross, but she could not move her arm. But only after the Lady made the sign of the cross herself that she, too, could make the same.
The Lady passed the rosary beads between her fingers and recited the “Glory be…” with Bernadette. She returned to the interior of the cave after the recitation of the rosary and the golden cloud disappeared, too.
When Jeanne and Toinette arrived, they bound into three the firewood they have collected and headed home. Because the two were unaware of what happened, Bernadette shared the extraordinary event, requesting them to keep it secret. But they didn’t.
Holy shepherdess
The eldest among nine children, Bernadette was born on January 7, 1844.
Small for her age, delicate in health, neat in person, attractive by the simplicity and innocence, which shone on her face, she was also truthful, obedient and uncomplaining.
She was of happy disposition with little opportunity for play, was not clever, but far from stupid, and lovable—were the qualities, which through the years were made more and more evident—was how Fr. Adolf Faroni, SDB, described Bernadette, who was named after Saint Bernard, in his book, The Story of Bernadette.
Her clear rosy skin, dark eyes and pleasant smile attracted people to her.
Her father, Francois, operated a flourmill, not a good one though, and her mother Louise were easy going and not at all thrifty. Her parents were good-hearted and God-fearing.
Her father would not demand debtors to pay him and eventually they left the mill. So poor, they were given shelter by Louise’s relative—a one-room building, a dark and damp place, which used to be a jail in Lourdes, France.
From six months until she was 15 months old, her mother got sick, and Marie Aravat, a family friend, cared for her.
When she was 13, she was requested to live with the Aravat family to take care of the children. But she was made to take care of the sheep.
Desirous to make her first communion, Mrs. Aravat tried to teach her catechism but gave up, saying, Bernadette did not have “the head for book work.” She could not read nor write. The Sisters of Charity and Christian Education from Nevers accepted her in their school.
Illusions or certainties
Although Bernadette described the Lady’s face as “good and gracious” and so beautiful, her mother insisted it was an illusion.
“If it had not been imaginary, then it was almost certainly demonical,” her mother said.
After her insistent pleadings and with the support of her sister and friend, she was allowed to go back on the cave on the cliff of Massabielle on February 14. Some children who heard of what happened from her sister decided to join the two girls.
She remembered so well the beautiful lady, about 16 or 17, in white robe with a blue ribbon tied around her waist. Her hair, which falls below her waist, was covered with a white veil. A white rosary with a shinning gold chain was on her hand, which shone like the two yellow roses on her feet.
Bernadette, who arrived at the grotto first knelt, prayed, then called to her friends, “There she is!”
Marie Hillot handed the vial of holy water to Bernadette and whispered, “Throw it at her.”
Although the atmosphere felt strange, no one saw the Lady except Bernadette. She took the vial and poured the water on the ground. The beautiful Lady smiled. Bernadette, absorbed by the beatific vision, fixed her gaze at the Lady.
Her companions, quite disturbed with the scene, ran screaming for help after the stone thrown by Jeanne splashed into the river.
Nicolas, the miller with his wife and sister, rushed and led Bernadette, who was still in a trance, to their house while the other children ran back to town.
After the February 14, 1858, incident, news about the apparitions spread and people crowded the grotto if only to have a glimpse of Bernadette.
Bernadette had 18 visions of the Beautiful Lady, who identified herself as the Immaculate Conception. She taught Bernadette a prayer on her fifth apparition, which the girl prayed in her lifetime.
Among the Lady’s messages were to pray for sinners, penance for self and others, and she had requested that a church be built on the place of apparition.
She also led Bernadette to a spring near the grotto, which yielded water for miraculous cures. Desiring to leave the grotto untouched, not one but three churches were built on top of the rock, the lowest, a crypt.
The waters from the spring were first declared miraculous on February 25, 1858, and 11 miraculous cures were declared. The healings were attributed to the intercession of the Beautiful Lady, who introduced herself the Immaculate Conception a dogma proclaimed on December 8, 1854, by Pope Pius IX.
Bernadette’s last visit to the site was on July 16, 1858, Feast of Mount Carmel, when she knelt far from the rock because it was barricaded.
Incorrupt body
On July 29, 1866, Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity as one of the 42 postulants. She worked as an infirmary assistant and sacristan. The beautiful embroideries she made were sewn unto altar cloths and vestments.
She suffered from tuberculosis of the bones and died at the age of 35 in Saint Croix Holy Cross, the infirmary of the convent on April 16, 1879. Her body was transferred to the crypt of the chapel of Saint Joseph on May 30, 1879.
On September 22, 1909, her body was exhumed and found incorrupt. On April 3, 1919, she was redressed and placed on a double casket. In 1925 it was exhumed again and sent to Rome.
She was declared venerable by Pope Pius X in 1913 and beatified on June 14, 1925, by Pope Pius XI, who also declared her saint on December 8, 1933.
Saint Bernadette is the patron of the ill, poor, sheep tenders and those ridiculed for their piety. Her feast day is February 18.
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Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris Collegium in Calauan, Laguna, and of Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.