Bernadette Soubirous (1844–1879)

Biography

She was in poor health and illiterate, but she was also simple, upright, virtuous and had a cheerful character. On February 11, 1858, Bernadette was collecting dry firewood in a place called Massabielle with her sister and a friend, when the Virgin appeared to her for the first time. Standing in the cavity of a rock, dressed in a white dress, girded with a blue band, her head covered with a white veil, her bare feet adorned with a golden rose, she looked to be sixteen or seventeen years old. He returned eighteen times until the following July 16. He asked the girl to pray for sinners, to do penance and to build a chapel in that place. “I promise you that I will make you happy, but not in this world, but in the next,” he told the psychic. When the girl asked her who she was, the Virgin answered: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” On another occasion, he asked Bernadette to scratch the ground, and a fountain emerged from which water flowed in abundance and from which numerous cures were obtained. The Sisters of Charity of Nevers picked up Bernadette at her home in Lourdes. They taught him the most basic things, completing his religious instruction, and gave him menial jobs like “scraping carrots in the kitchen.” At the age of twenty-two he entered the congregation and went to the mother house in Nevers. She lived there for thirteen more years, under the name of Sister María Bernarda, frequently staying in bed, treated harshly by the superiors and sisters. He always suffered with courage and good humor. In her agony, she could be heard saying: “Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for me, poor sinner, poor sinner…”. Moments later he gently left life with a last sigh.