Our Lady of Lourdes: A Story of Love
Our Lady of Lourdes and Devotion to Mary
Prayer – Pope Francis
Dear brothers and sisters,We gather and celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, making a pilgrimage with our souls and asking the Virgin for a great grace: Mother, help us to be a community that welcomes all. Help us to be a community that goes out to meet others, that leaves to be found, for encounter is reciprocal. Encounter is not a charity, it is walking together, escaping the solitude and isolation to be with others, with friends, with family, with the People of God, all together praying before the Virgin.Therefore, we ask the Virgin to help us be a community. Mother, help us to be a community, so that we can unite as a community. Encounter is always an opening to others, the opposite of encounter is closing the heart. Mother, let us not close our hearts, for egoism is a worm that eats the heart from within.Dear brothers and sisters, I join you in this celebration, I pray for you, and I ask you to do the same for me. And I send you my blessing, may Jesus bless you abundantly, and may the Virgin accompany you with her hand. Happy feast.Our Lady of Lourdes
[Image of Our Lady of Lourdes]
LOURDES, FRANCELourdes is situated in a picturesque valley near the Pyrenees, known as Tarbes-Lourdes since the time of Pope Pius X. In 1858, it was inhabited by only 4,000 people. Near the village, we find the Massabielle cave, in a desolate place by the river. A 14-year-old girl, known for her good nature but suffering from illness and clearly lacking formal education, named Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879), was blessed in 1858 with eighteen apparitions of the Holy Virgin Mary.First Apparition (February 11)With three younger sisters and other girls, the seeress intended to slowly gather near the river Gave. Upon reaching the vicinity of the Massabielle cave by the river, she heard a strange noise, then another, until she saw a Lady, enveloped in supernatural light. Bernadette was frightened but contemplated the vision; the Lady bowed her head and smiled at her. Then, the astonished girl saw the Lady take the crucifix from her rosary and make the sign of the cross on herself. Bernadette, after observing her, understood that she should recite the rosary as the Lady did. Upon finishing her prayer, the apparition disappeared, having lasted less than half an hour.Second Apparition (February 14, Sunday)After noon, the boys told their mother about the apparition, and they wanted to persuade her to go to the cave with them. Bernadette wanted to test the water blessed with holy water to ensure it was a divine work and not from the devil. She went to the site with her sisters and some friends, bringing with her a half-liter bottle of blessed water. They knelt down at the place where the apparition had occurred, and Bernadette began to recite the Holy Rosary. After a few minutes, she had another vision, in which she threw the blessed water, saying: *”If you come from God, I ask you to stay and draw near; if not, leave immediately.”* Then the Lady approached and became increasingly present, especially when she heard the name of God and because of the blessed water. Those accompanying the seeress saw her turn pale and ‘fall’ onto the ground in a deep trance. No one, besides Bernadette, saw Our Lady.
Terceira aparição (18 de fevereiro)
Around 5:45 a.m., the visionary, accompanied by Lady Joanna Maria Milet and young Peyret, entered the Grotto and together they prayed the Rosary. When the Lady appeared, Bernadette was handed paper, pen, and ink, asking her to write down her own wishes. Then the Holy Virgin said: «What I must tell you is not necessary for me to write… Do you want to make a favor to me of coming here for fourteen days? I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the other…» In this third appearance, the Lady spoke for the first time and expressed herself in a local dialect. Bernadette, promising to return with her mother’s consent, asked if the other two women could accompany her in the future. The Lady’s response came immediately, saying: «I want to see many people here.» After that, the light dissipated and the Lady disappeared.
Fourth appearance (19 de fevereiro)
This time Bernadette appeared with over a hundred people. The Holy Virgin appeared and was very happy that the visionary had returned, keeping her promise. The whole crowd began to recite the Rosary. Spontaneously, everyone felt a sense that an energetic field was being generated in the Grotto. At that moment, the visionary started to hear a chorus of voices, as if a crowd of people had begun to scream in terror. Mary, with a simple prayerful gesture, raised her head, and the voices disappeared. It was the demons trying to harass the place, but they submitted to Mary.
Fifth appearance (20 de fevereiro)
Mary appeared to the visionary but did not speak.
Sixth appearance (21 de fevereiro)
While Bernadette knelt in the Grotto and painted the altar on the horizon, she felt deep sorrow. The Holy Virgin appeared, also sad, and painted the altar on the horizon. She then addressed Bernadette, saying: «Pray for the poor souls and for the sick world»! This time, the event was witnessed by Dr. Dozous from Montpellier, who later wrote a valuable book recounting his observations. The news of the apparitions spread to nearby villages, and many devotees and curious people flocked to the place. Every morning, the number of people coming to the site to witness Bernadette’s ecstasies increased.
In the afternoon of February 21, Police Commissioner Jacomet intervened and questioned the visionary. Finally, her father prohibited her from going to the Grotto. On February 22, the visionary was taken by the popular crowd to the Grotto, where she knelt to recite the Rosary and began to cry. No apparition occurred. Her father lifted the ban, much to the commissioner’s disapproval.
Seventh appearance (23 de fevereiro)
Our Lady called Bernadette by her baptismal name for the first time and taught her a secret prayer, instructing her not to share it with anyone. She also revealed a secret to Bernadette that she was not to disclose. The Lady, who had not yet revealed Her name, then said to Bernadette: “Now, my daughter, go to the priests, I want a chapel to be built on this site.”
Father Peyramale was in his fifty-first year at that time, a champion of justice and faith, yet still skeptical about the reported apparitions. Bernadette confronted him with what Our Lady had requested. Initially, he refused to believe her, but he set a condition: the rose bush by the grotto was to bloom, this would be the sign that the apparitions were not an illusion.
Eighth Apparition (February 24)
Bernadette knelt down on the stone, recited the Rosary, then smiled upon completing the first mystery. Finally, she lowered her arms and sobbed as she approached the rose bush on her knees, touching the ground with her lips. Once at the rose bush, she saw the Lady and relayed the conditions set by the priest. She did not respond, but with a very serious tone, expressed her desire for Bernadette to pray for sinners. Then, Our Lady delivered a message of penance and prayer to the visionary: “Penitence! Penitence! Penitence! Pray to God for the conversion of sinners! Kiss the earth as a sign of penitence for sinners.”
Our Lady inquired if Bernadette found it repugnant to kiss the earth, to which the visionary nodded her head in response. The rose bush did not bloom, but the faith of the simple people present only grew stronger. In fact, a crowd of people believed in the apparitions of that day.
Ninth Appearance (February 25)
At 5:30 a.m., Bernadette kissed the earth beneath the rock and, as she passed to enter the cave, dislodged the branches of the rose bush. While kneeling in prayer, she stood up, appearing uncertain and absorbed as if she had heard a voice; then she bowed down and began to dig in the earth, making a hole that soon filled with water. At that moment, the seer paused, heard a voice giving her instructions, took some grass, put it in her mouth to eat. Bernadette later explained to her family that Our Lady had taken her to do this when She appeared to her and entrusted her with another secret. Moreover, the Lady told her: “You will eat that grass there… go and drink from the spring and wash yourself”. After the miraculous discovery of the new spring, a crowd of people gathered in the cave; many beat some cloths against the water. The spring, unforeseen by the scholars, had a flow of 120,000 liters every 24 hours without drying up. The number of visitors, curious and pilgrims, increased day by day; those who believed continued to flock, speaking of the miracle of the Virgin.
Tenth Appearance (February 24)
Bernadette knelt at her usual place after making the sign of the cross and drinking from the spring. The seer, after the traditional Rosary prayer, greeted the Lady and invited Her to do penance and pray for the sinners. Then she said: “Kiss the earth for the penance of sinners”. Bernadette signaled to the people to do the same as she was doing. In the afternoon of the same day, the seer was subjected to a severe interrogation conducted by the imperial procurator and other investigators. The interrogation yielded no results: the girl said she would return to the cave the next day.
Eleventh Appearance (February 28)
Many soldiers, sent by the procurator, were present at the appearance and remained deeply impressed: Our Lady again invited them to pray for sinners, repeating the words and gestures of February 24. Shortly after, Bernadette went to church to pray.
Twelfth Appearance (March 1)
A fine ink borrowed from Bernadette for her rosary, when she took it to place at her forehead and make the sign of the cross, she mistook it for her own, thinking it was her rosary but it was another. Then Our Lady told her: «You have made a mistake, it is not yours». At that moment, the seer understood that Our Lady did not want Bernadette to pray the rosary for a third that was not her own. Before the end of the fifteen mysteries, Our Lady entrusted three secrets to Bernadette with this explicit instruction: «I forbid you to tell anyone».Thirteenth Appearance (March 2) Our Lady offered the faithful a precious mission through Bernadette with this explicit instruction: «Go tell the priests who come here in procession that they should build a chapel».Fourteenth Appearance (March 3) The Most Holy Virgin, who did not appear at the usual place, appeared to Bernadette in the morning and renewed her request for a chapel.Fifteenth Appearance (March 4) There were about twenty thousand people in the grotto. Bernadette stood motionless, gazing at someone, then ate some grass. The silent apparition then disappeared. Bernadette first smiled, then became sad, made the sign of the cross, extinguished her candle, and resumed her journey back home. It was at eight o’clock. The apparition had lasted more than 45 minutes. In the evening of the same day, a twelve-year-old boy who had been washed in the waters of the spring was miraculously cured. It was Jean Boutorts, who died seventy-nine years later. On this day, the seer later stated: «I was sad because She was sad, I smiled because She smiled, She told me many times that it was necessary to pray for the conversion of sinners, and so I became sad».Sixteenth Appearance (March 25, Feast of the Annunciation) Bernadette reached the Grotto early in the morning, and found Our Lady surrounded by a radiant light of celestial origin, already waiting for her. The seer began to recite her rosary as usual and asked Our Lady her true name, but she received no answer. Only when she asked for the fourth time, Our Lady, taking on a solemn yet humble aspect, gathered her hands, raised them to her chest, looked up to heaven, then opened them and extended them towards Bernadette, and finally said with a tremor in her voice: «I am the Immaculate Conception**».The seer, not understanding the meaning of this term, but wanting to ask if it might not also be the Mother of God, still attempted to inquire, but the Lady had already vanished.This apparition lasted approximately an hour. The phrase was incomprehensible to Bernadette, yet she repeated it to the people, who exclaimed with joy. The girl ran to tell the parish priest, Peyramale, repeating the words along the way, as she did not understand their meaning. When she presented herself before the priest, he asked: “‘Is the Lady not the Blessed Virgin?’” Bernadette replied: “‘No, I do not think so, it is the Immaculate Conception.’” Upon hearing these words, the priest was convinced of the authenticity of the apparition, as Bernadette did not seem to know the name in any way. A learned lady explained to the seer what that name meant, and at that moment, the seer was certain that the Lady was the Virgin Mary.Seventeenth Apparition (7 April)It was five in the morning. Bernadette was already on her knees, reciting the Rosary. In her right hand, she held a rosary, and in her left, a lit candle. Entering into contemplation, she did not move her hand, nor even when the candle burned through, beginning to ignite her hands. Doctor Dozous, who was with her, noticed this phenomenon, which lasted about 15 minutes. The seer witnessed the apparition and then, still in ecstasy and on her knees, advanced into the cave. Finally, she moved her hands and stopped the action of the wax in her left hand, which did not burn. These particular events were witnessed by the doctor, who verified that after 15 minutes with the wax in her left hand, her skin showed no alteration, and that Bernadette, after the apparition, was sensitive to the heat of the wax. Following this remarkable miracle, the police blocked access to the cave with wooden barricades and declared the water normal, without any curative power, and Bernadette was considered ‘out of her mind’.Eighteenth Apparition (16 July)It was the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Bernadette celebrated Mass early in the day and received communion. In the afternoon, she went again to the church, when she felt called and exhorted to go to the Cave of Miracles. She did so, as far as she could reach, and knelt down on the edge of the river Gave, near the barricades that did not allow access to the cave. In this position, she began to pray, unexpectedly seeing the Virgin Mary, beyond the barriers that connected the cave. She was the most beautiful she had ever seen, and she smiled at her, then silently vanished, as she had appeared.
In all these apparitions, the messages were not lengthy, and often the encounters were completely silent. Following these miraculous events, on July 28, 1858, Bishop of Tarbes, Bertrand-Sévère Laurence, established an ecclesiastical commission to inquire into the events at Lourdes and announced this in a lengthy pastoral letter addressed to the clergy and faithful of the diocese. The canonical procedure lasted four years and was conducted with great scrutiny.All those interviewed presented to the bishop a unanimous opinion on the authenticity of the apparitions.The Bishop, in this regard, wrote in Article 1 of the Declaration of Authenticity: *”We judge that the Immaculate Mary, Mother of God, truly appeared to Bernadette Soubirous on February 11, 1858, eighteen times, in the Grotto of Massabielle near the town of Lourdes. We judge that this apparition possesses all the characteristics of truth and can be held certain by the faithful…*”.In late September 1858, the Emperor Napoleon III fell gravely ill, and a court lady requested to eat the herb from the Grotto, and shortly after, she was healed. Then the emperor ordered the site to be reopened as a miraculous place.In 1866, Bernadette entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity and Religious Instruction, where she remained for thirteen years amidst misunderstandings from superiors, sufferings, and turmoil.In 1876, from the convent of Nevers, she wrote to Pope Pius IX a letter that was taken to Rome by the Bishop of Nevers, in which she stated: *”It seems to me that from Heaven, the Blessed Virgin often looks at you maternally, because you, Most Holy Father, had her proclaimed Immaculate. I like to think that you are particularly loved by this good mother who, four years ago, came to tell me personally: ‘I am the Immaculate Conception’*.”Bernadette passed away to eternity on April 16, 1879.Her body remains incorrupt to this day.She was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1933.Locus MariologicusFebruary 11, 2023To deepen the foundations of devotion to Mary in the apparitions of Lourdes, consult the Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus by Pope Paul VI.Deepen your Marian knowledge: Study Mariology with academic rigor, familiarize yourself with all Marian dogmas and Marian theology at the Locus Mariologicus Institute. Enroll in the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.
Responses