Our Lady of Lourdes: A Love Story

Our Lady of Lourdes and Devotion to Mary

Prayer Pope Francis

Dear brothers,
We gather and celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, making a pilgrimage with our soul and asking the Virgin for a very great grace: Mother, help us to be a community that reaches everyone. Help us to be a community that goes out to meet everyone, that goes out to meet others, but also that goes out and lets itself be found, because encounter is reciprocal, encounter is not almsgiving, it is walking together, fleeing from the “solitary” and from isolation in order to be together with others, with friends, with family, with the People of God, all together praying before the Virgin.
That is why we ask the Virgin to help us to be a community. Mother, help us to be a community, so that we may be united as a community. Encounter is always an openness to others; the opposite of encounter is to close the heart. Mother, may we not try to close our heart, because selfishness is a worm that eats the heart from within.
Dear brothers and sisters, I join you in this celebration, I pray for you and, please, I ask that you do so for me. And I send you my blessing, may Jesus bless you very much, and may the Virgin accompany you by the hand. Happy feast day

Our Lady OF LOURDES

LOURDES, FRANCE

Lourdes lies in a picturesque valley near the Pyrenees, called Tarbes-Lourdes since the time of Saint Pius X. In 1858 it was inhabited by only 4,000 people. Near the town we find the grotto of Massabielle, in a deserted place beside the river. A fourteen-year-old girl, known for being very good, but sickly and clearly lacking in education, named Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879), was blessed in 1858 with eighteen apparitions of the Holy Virgin Mary.

First apparition (February 11)

With her three younger sisters and other girls, the seer intended to gather firewood along the banks of the river Gave. Arriving near the grotto of Massabielle beside the river, she heard a strange noise, and then another, until she saw a Lady, surrounded by supernatural light. Bernadette was frightened, but she contemplated the vision; the Lady bowed her head and smiled at her. Then the astonished girl saw the Lady take the crucifix of her rosary and with it make the sign of the cross over herself. Then Bernadette, after watching her, understood that she should recite the rosary as the Lady did. When the prayer ended, the apparition vanished, having lasted less than half an hour.

Second apparition (February 14, Sunday)

After midday, the children had told their mother about the apparition and wanted to persuade her to go with her to the Grotto. Bernadette wanted to make a test with holy water to be sure that it was the work of God and not of the devil. In fact, she went to the place with her sisters and some friends and took with her a bottle with half a liter of holy water. They knelt at the place where the apparition had occurred, Bernadette began the recitation of the Holy Rosary and behold, after a few minutes she had another vision, in which she threw holy water saying: “If you come from God, I ask you to remain and to draw near; if not, go away at once”then the Lady drew near and became ever more present, especially on hearing the name of God and because of the holy water. The seer’s companions saw her turn white and ‘fall’ to the ground in deep ecstasy. No one but Bernadette saw Our Lady.

Third apparition (February 18)

At about 5:45 in the morning, the seer, accompanied by Mrs. Joana Maria Milet and by the young Peyret, entered the Grotto and together they prayed the Holy Rosary. When the Lady appeared, Bernadette handed her paper, pen and inkwell, asking her to write down her own wishes. Then the Holy Virgin said to her: “What I must say to you need not be written… Will you do me the favor of coming here for another fourteen days? I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next..”.. In this third apparition the Lady spoke for the first time and expressed herself in a local dialect. Then Bernadette, promising her to return with her mother’s consent, asked her whether the other two women might also accompany her in the future. To this question the Lady’s answer was not long in coming, and she said: “I want to see many people here”. Then the light dispersed and the Lady vanished.

Fourth apparition (February 19)

This time Bernadette came accompanied by more than a hundred people. The Holy Virgin then appeared and showed herself very happy that the seer had returned, keeping her promise. The whole crowd began to recite the Rosary. Suddenly everyone had the sensation that a burning field of energy was being generated in the Grotto. At that moment the seer began to hear a chorus of voices, as if a multitude of people had begun to shout, trembling. Mary then, with a simple gesture of prayer, raised her head and the voices vanished. They were the demons who were trying to besiege that place, and they submitted to Mary.

Fifth apparition (February 20)

Mary appeared to the seer but did not speak.

Sixth apparition (February 21)

While Bernadette was moving on her knees through the Grotto with her gaze fixed on the horizon, full of sadness, the Holy Virgin Mary appeared to her. She too was sad and had her gaze on the horizon; then she turned to Bernadette and said to her: “pray for the poor souls and for the sick world”!. This time the event was witnessed, for the first time, by Doctor Dozous di Montpellier, who later wrote a precious book containing his observations. Then the news of the apparitions spread through the surrounding villages, and many devout and curious people flocked to the place. Every morning the number of people who came to the place to witness Bernadette’s ecstasies increased.

On the afternoon of February 21 the police commissioner Jacomet intervened and questioned the seer. In the end, her father forbade her to go to the Grotto. On February 22 the seer was taken to the Grotto by the fervor of the popular crowd, where she knelt to recite the Rosary and began to weep. No apparition took place. The father withdrew the prohibition on his daughter, to the great disapproval of the commissioner.

Seventh apparition (February 23)

Most Holy Mary called the seer by her baptismal name for the first time and taught Bernadette a secret prayer, which the girl was to recite every day, and told her not to tell it to anyone. Our Lady also communicated to her a secret that she was not to reveal to anyone. The Lady then, who had not yet declared her name, said to Bernadette: “Now, my daughter, go to the priests; I want a chapel to be erected in this place”.

Father Peyramale was already in his fifties at that time, a fighter for justice and for the faith, but still skeptical about the supposed apparitions. Bernadette faced him, delivering to him what Our Lady had asked. At first he did not want to believe her, but then he set as a condition that the rosebush beside the grotto should bloom; this would be the sign that the apparitions were not the fruit of an illusion.

Eighth apparition (February 24)

The girl knelt on the stone and recited the Holy Rosary, then smiled as she finished the first mystery. At last she let her arms drop and sobbed as she drew near the rosebush on her knees, until she touched the earth with her lips. Once she reached the rosebush she saw the Lady and told her the conditions set by the parish priest. She did not answer, but, in a very serious voice, expressed the desire that Bernadette pray for sinners. Then the Lady gave the seer a message of penance and prayer: “Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for the conversion of sinners! Kiss the earth as a sign of penance for sinners”. The Most Holy Virgin asked Bernadette whether kissing the earth disgusted her; the seer shook her head to say no. The rosebush did not bloom, but the faith of the simple people who were present did not diminish. On the contrary, a multitude of people believed in the apparitions of that day.

Ninth apparition (February 25)

It was 5:30. Bernadette kissed the earth beneath the rock and, passing through to enter the grotto, moved aside the branches of the rosebush. While she was praying on her knees, she stood up; she seemed uncertain and absorbed, as if she were hearing a voice; then she bent down and set about digging in the earth, making a hole that soon filled with water. At that moment the seer stopped, heard a voice that gave her instructions, took a little grass and brought it to her mouth to eat it. Bernadette would later explain to her family that she had been led to do it by Our Lady when she appeared to her, and that she confided another secret to her. Besides this, the Lady said to her: “You shall eat of that grass there… go and drink at the spring and wash yourselves”. After the miraculous discovery of the new spring, a multitude of people came to the cave; many dipped cloths in that water. The spring, unforeseen by the experts, from the very first day gushed a hundred and twenty thousand liters every 24 hours without drying up. The number of visitors, the curious and pilgrims, increased from day to day; those who believed did not cease to flock there, speaking of the miracle of the Virgin. On February 26 no apparition took place; nevertheless, a miraculous cure occurred: the stonemason Bouriette was healed of a disease of the eyes by washing in the spring. In gratitude, the stonemasons of the region spontaneously set about opening a path among the rocks so that access to the Grotto would be more convenient.

Tenth apparition (February 24)

Bernadette knelt in the usual place after making the sign of the cross and drinking at the spring. The seer, after the customary prayer of the Rosary, greeted the Lady, who invited her to do penance and to pray for sinners. Then she said to her: “Kiss the earth for the penance of sinners”. Bernadette made a sign to the people so that they would do the same as she was doing. On the afternoon of the same day, the seer was subjected to a severe interrogation conducted by the imperial prosecutor and other investigators. The interrogation had no result: the girl said that the next day she would return to the Grotto.

Eleventh apparition (February 28)

Many soldiers, sent by the prosecutor, were present at the apparition and remained deeply impressed: Our Lady again called for prayer for sinners, repeating the words and the gestures of February 24. Soon afterward, Bernadette went to the Church to pray.

Twelfth apparition (March 1)

A refined lady had lent Bernadette her rosary; when she took it to bring it to her forehead and make the sign of the cross, she was mistaken, thinking it was her own rosary, but it was the other one. Then Our Lady said to her: “You are mistaken, it is not yours”. At that moment the seer understood that Our Lady did not like Bernadette to pray the rosary with beads that were not her own. Before the end of the fifteen mysteries Our Lady had confided a total of three secrets to Bernadette with this explicit recommendation: “I forbid you to tell it to anyone”.

Thirteenth apparition (March 2)

Our Lady offered the faithful a precious mission through Bernadette with this explicit recommendation: “Go tell the priests that they are to come here in procession and that they are to build a chapel”.

Fourteenth apparition (March 3)

The Most Holy Virgin, who did not show herself in the usual place, appeared to Bernadette at the end of the morning and renewed the request for a chapel.

Fifteenth apparition (March 4)

There were about twenty thousand people in the grotto. Bernadette remained still, with her eyes fixed on someone, then she ate grass. The silent apparition then vanished. Bernadette first smiled, then became sad, made the sign of the cross, put out the candle and took up the road again to return home. It was eight o’clock. The apparition is said to have lasted more than 45 minutes. At the end of the afternoon of that same day, a twelve-year-old boy who was washed in the water of that spring was miraculously healed. He was Jean Bouhorts, who died 79 years later. About this day the seer would later state: “I was sad, because She was sad, I smiled because She smiled, She told me several times that it was necessary to pray for the conversion of sinners, so I became sad”.

Sixteenth apparition (March 25, feast of the Annunciation)

Bernadette arrived at the Grotto at the beginning of the morning and found the Lady, surrounded by a glow of heavenly light, already waiting for her. The seer began to recite the Rosary as usual and asked the Lady what her true name was; she received no answer. Only when she asked for the fourth time did the Lady, taking on a solemn and at the same time humble aspect, join her hands, bring them to the height of her breast, look up to heaven and then open them again and stretch them out toward Bernadette, and at last say with a tremor in her voice: “I am the Immaculate Conception”!. The seer, not knowing the meaning of this term, but wanting to ask whether she might not also be the Mother of God, still tried to ask, but the Lady had already disappeared.

This apparition lasted about an hour. That phrase was incomprehensible to Bernadette; nevertheless she repeated it to the people, who cried out with a roar of joy. The girl ran to tell the parish priest Peyramale, repeating the words along the way, since she did not know their meaning. When she presented herself before the parish priest, he asked her: “Might the Lady not be the Most Blessed Virgin”? Bernadette answered: “No, I do not think so, she is the Immaculate Conception”. As soon as he heard such words pronounced, the parish priest became convinced of the authenticity of that apparition, for Bernadette had no way of knowing that name. An educated lady explained to the seer what that name meant; at that moment the seer then became certain that the Lady was the Virgin Mary.

Seventeenth apparition (April 7)

It was five in the morning. Bernadette was already on her knees and was reciting the Rosary; in her right hand she held the rosary beads and in her left a lighted candle. Entering into contemplation she did not move her hand, not even when the candle burned down and began to burn in 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 interior of the Grotto, and at last, moving her hands and stopping the action of the wax inside her left hand, it was not burned. These things in particular were witnessed by the doctor, who verified that after fifteen minutes with the wax in her left hand the skin had suffered no alteration and that Bernadette, after the apparition, was sensitive to the heat of the wax. After this resounding miracle the police barred access to the grotto with wooden barricades and declared the water ordinary, without any healing power, and Bernadette was considered ‘out of her mind’.

Eighteenth apparition (July 16)

It was the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel; very early Bernadette took part in the Eucharist and received Communion. In the afternoon she went again to the Church, when she felt called and urged to go to the Grotto of the Miracles. So she did, as far as it was possible to go, and she knelt on the bank of the river Gave, next to the barricades that did not allow access to the grotto. In this position she began to pray; unexpectedly she saw the Virgin Mary, beyond the barriers that closed off the Grotto. She was the most beautiful ever and was smiling at her; shortly afterward she vanished silently, just as she had appeared.

In all these apparitions the messages were not long, and often the encounters were completely silent. After these miraculous events, on July 28, the Bishop of Tarbes, Bertrand Sévère Laurence, established an ecclesiastical commission to investigate the events of Lourdes and announced this in a long pastoral letter addressed to the clergy and to the faithful of the diocese. The canonical procedure lasted four years and was very scrupulous.

All those interviewed presented to the bishop their unanimous opinion on the authenticity of the apparitions.

The Bishop wrote thus, in this sense, in article 1 of the declaration of authenticity: “We judge that the Immaculate Mary, Mother of God, really appeared to Bernadette Soubirous on February 11, 1858 and eighteen times, in the Grotto of Massabielle near the town of Lourdes. We judge that this apparition has all the characteristics of truth and may be held as certain by the faithful…”.

At the end of September 1858, the son of Emperor Napoleon III became gravely ill; the lady of the court asked him to eat the grass from the Grotto and a short time later he was healed. Then the emperor ordered that that place be reopened as a miraculous site.

In 1866, Bernadette entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity and Religious Instruction, where she remained for thirteen years amid misunderstandings from her superiors, sufferings and humiliations.

In 1876, from the convent of Nevers, she had written a letter to Pius IX that had been taken to Rome by the Bishop of Nevers, in which she said: “it seems to me that from Heaven the Blessed Virgin must often look upon you in a motherly way, because you, Most Holy Father, had proclaimed her 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 fell asleep for eternity on April 16, 1879.

Her body remains incorrupt to this day.

She was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1933.

Locus Mariologicus

February 11, 2023

To deepen the foundations of devotion to Mary in the apparitions of Lourdes, consult the Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus of Pope Paul VI.

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See also: Complete guide to the Marian Apparitions approved by the Church

See the complete list of Marian apparitions recognized by the Church.