Bernadette Soubirous
Visionary of Lourdes
Bernadette Soubirous is the saint of Lourdes, France.
Visionary and messenger of the Immaculate Conception, she told us the very words
of the Virgin Mary, spoken in the native Basque tongue of Southern France and
Northern Spain. She spoke words teaching of the merits of prayer, penance,
poverty and church. In the first and most widely recognized Marian apparition of
modern times, a personal message was delivered also to
Bernadette—She
would not find happiness in this world, but only in the next.
She was to die twenty–one years later in 1879 after a prolonged and painful
illness. She remained hidden in a convent about 300 miles from home, a refuge
from the interrogations and the pilgrims that never ceased seeking her. At
thirty–five, her strong–willed manner gave way to her frail body, and she
finally entered into her eternal happiness.
While she took with her the knowledge of certain secrets the Virgin gave her,
one secret remained hidden in our presence. The most spectacular of all the
incorruptibles, Bernadette's miraculously preserved body remained buried in a
damp grave for thirty years until the cause for beatification was taken up. To
this day, the body of Bernadette is a profound source of inspiration and of
mystery surrounding the ways of the Lord. The face of Bernadette is one of
surreal beauty, and will remain for us always the face that gazed into the eyes
of the Mother of God.
Bernadette writes of her vision:
I
had gone down one day with two other girls to the bank of the river Gave when
suddenly I heard a kind of rustling sound. I turned my head toward the field by
the side of the river, but the trees seemed quite still and the noise was
evidently not from them. Then I looked up and caught sight of the cave where I
saw a lady wearing a lovely white dress with a bright belt. On top of each of
her feet was a pale yellow rose, the same color as her rosary beads.
At this I rubbed my eyes, thinking I was seeing things, and I put my hands into
the fold of my dress where my rosary was. I wanted to make the sign of the
cross, but for the life of me I couldn't manage it, and my hand just fell down.
Then the lady made the sign of the cross herself, and at the second attempt I
managed to do the same, though my hands were trembling. Then I began to say the
rosary while the lady let her beads clip through her fingers, without moving her
lips. When I stopped
saying the Hail Mary, she immediately vanished.
I asked my two companions if they had noticed anything, but they said no. Of
course, they wanted to know what I was doing, and I told them that I had seen a
lady wearing a nice white dress, though I didn't know who she was. I told them
not to say anything about it, and they said I was silly to have anything to do
with it. I said they were wrong, and I came back next Sunday, feeling myself
drawn to the place....
The third time I went, the lady spoke to me and asked me to come every day for
fifteen days. I said I would and then she said that she wanted me to tell the
priests to build a chapel there. She also told me to drink from the stream. I
went to the Gave, the only stream I could see. Then she made me realize she was
not speaking of the Gave, and she indicated a little trickle of water close by.
When I got to it I could only find a few drops, mostly mud. I cupped my hands to
catch some liquid without success, and then I started to scrape the ground. I
managed to find a few drops of water, but only at the fourth attempt was there
sufficient for any kind of a drink. The lady then vanished and I went back home.
I went back each day for fifteen days, and each time, except one Monday and one
Friday, the lady appeared and told me to look for a stream and wash in it and to
see that the priests build a chapel there. I must also pray, she said, for the
conversion of sinners. I asked her many times what she meant by that, but she
only smiled. Finally, with outstretched arms and eyes looking up to heaven, she
told me she was the Immaculate Conception.
During the fifteen days she told me three secrets, but I was not to speak about
them to anyone, and so far I have not.
from a letter by Saint Bernadette
Pictures of Bernadette in Death
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