The Apparition of the Blesses Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France February 11th is the celebrated feast day of the

beautiful, Our Lady of Lourdes, one of the most famous apparitions sites of the Blessed Virgin Mary in all the world. It happened in 1858 near Lourdes, France, in a grotto known as Massabielle. Bernadette Soubirous (age 14), her sister, Marie Toinette, and neighbor, Jeanne Abadie, had gone to a nearby river to gather firewood for the familys next meal. They were peasant girls living in a time of turmoil within France. When they reached the river, Bernadette (who suffered from poor health most of her life), stayed behind to look for wood near the grotto, while the other two girls crossed the river and gathered firewood on the other side. A rosebush and the grotto, itself, soon took all of Bernadettes attention She saw a golden-colored cloud, and soon after a Lady, young and beautiful who came and placed herself at the grotto opening above the rosebush. The Lady was dressed in an lovely, long ivory dress, gathered around her waist by a deep blue sash. Pearl rosary beads hung from her soft-looking hands that were folded and pointed in prayer. Framing her kind, devout face was a long ivory mantle trimmed in gold. It flowed to her feet, and on them rested two golden roses. Mary smiled at Bernadette and motioned for her to advance. Bernadette lost any fear she may have had and fell to her knees to pray the Rosary. Afterward, the Lady slowly withdrew to the interior of the grotto and disappeared. Nothing was spoken between the two of them on this day, February 11, 1858. Our Lady visited Bernadette at the grotto eighteen times during the following six-month period without ever telling Bernadette who She was, until the last apparition. During the apparitions, Mary instructed Bernadette to dig a hole in the ground and drink and bathe in it. The hole later turned into a spring of water that Mary promised would be a healing spring for all who came to use its waters. Mary also asked Bernadette to tell the local pastor, Cure Peyramale, to have a chapel built in honor of her appearances there. The Cure accused Bernadette of lying about the apparitions and told her to find out from the Lady just who she was and demanded from her that she perform a miracle by making the rosebush in the grotto bloom. On March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, Mary answered the Cures request when she told Bernadette, who had only received a meager religious education, I am the Immaculate Conception. Mary, with these words, confirmed what the Pope had declared as official Catholic Church doctrine just four years earlier a highly unlikely fact to be known by an uneducated 14 yr. old living in rural France. The apparitions were declared authentic in 1862 and Lourdes rapidly became one of the worlds major pilgrimage sites. A chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes was erected in 1866. Thousands have been cured from a variety of illnesses, both physical and spiritual; and a clinic to support the millions of pilgrims who come to Lourdes operates to this

day. Bernadette returned to a life of obscurity. She joined the Sisters of Notre Dame in Nevers, France in 1864 and died there in 1879 after a long and painful illness. She was only 35 years old. Her body was placed in the Sisters chapel, but it has never decomposed. Sr. Mary Bernarde was declared a saint (St. Bernadette) on December 8, 1933.