For

Against

Her poverty stricken parents always refused gifts

of money or food from well-meaning people.

Her visions seemed contagious and many

other townspeople young and old were
claiming supernatural visions at the grotto
and elsewhere.

Bernadette had not been aware of the concept of

the immaculate conception at the time
because she was still studying basic Catholic
Catechism.

Her and her family already held a strong

religious view within Catholicism

After intensive cross-examination from local

police, she remained innocent and there were no
flaws in her tale.
She never seemed to want anything from her
visions; she lived a simple life as a nun after her
experiences. Upon her first experience she only
told her sisters from which rumours started
spreading about her visions.
Bernadette never claimed it was the Virgin Mary
but instead called the lady in her visions
Aquero.

Her life was a lonely one, where she was

over worked and experiencing crisis. She
was ill as a child with cholera and suffered
with asthmatic issues throughout her life.
The images that she would have seen in
village churches as a devout Christian
match her description of the apparition
which may have influenced her
subconscious.
After the first vision, Bernadette regularly
went to the grotto with followers to seek the
visions, however despite being
accompanied by thousands only she could
see the vision.

Saint Bernadette Soubirous

Background

She was born on 7th January 1884 in Lourdes France.

Her family were very economically disadvantaged, living in an old
converted prison cell.
She was baptised shortly after birth and was the eldest of 9 children.
Bernadette had an immense faith in God from an early age. She was
often told she was stupid because she couldnt learn her Catechism.
Bernadette often replied thatReligious
at least sheExperience
would know how to love the
She started having visions at the age of 14, which lasted for 5 months. There were a
total of 18 visions.
Her vision occurred when collecting firewood with her sister and friend and lasted for
about 15 minutes. She came across a grotto, which at the time was filled with rubbish.
The others carried on walking and left her in the grotto where she saw a small lady
dressed in white, wearing a white dress, blue girdle, and a yellow rose on each foot, the
same colour as the chain of her rosary. She felt frightened but could not run away.
Townspeople assumed the vision was the Virgin Mary.
Her parents forbade her from returning again but Bernadette felt inwardly compelled to
return.
Her third experience was when the lady spoke to Bernadette for the first time. She was
accompanied by a few adults. The lady asked Bernadette to come to the grotto regularly
for a fortnight and promised to make her happy in the next world. Over the next
fortnight thousands of people began to accompany her to the grotto.
Her 7th experience involved the lady instructing Bernadette to ask the priests to build a
chapel by the grotto. Despite initial scepticism the priests eventually agreed to her
request.
On her 9th visit the lady asked Bernadette to drink from the springs. She couldnt see any
springs so she started digging with her bare hands and drunk from the muddy water. To