Which French saint is associated with the town of Lourdes?

Answer 1

The town of Lourdes is associated with Saint Bernadette of Lourdes, born in 1844 and canonized in 1933. Her feast day is April 16 and she is the patron saint of bodily illness.

She is known for her famous apparitions. Lourdes is now a major pilgrimage site, the largest such site in France.

St. Bernadette Soubirous (b. 1844 - d. 1879)

Feast day: February 11th

St. Bernadette and the town of Lourdes are known for the Blessed Virgin Mary's appearances 18 times to Bernadette in a grotto near Lourdes in 1858. Of particular note is a spring from which the Blessed Virgin instructed her to drink. Hearing the Lady tell her "Go, drink at the spring and wash in it," Bernadette told the following: She pointed with her finger, showing me the spring: I went there: I only saw a little dirty water; I put my hand in, but could not get enough to drink. I scratched and the water came - but muddy. Three times I threw it away, but the fourth time I could drink it. (Thurston & Atwater, 1956, p. 300)

Several subsequent miraculous medical healings were reported from those who visited the spring in the grotto. (cf. John 5:1-15)

Of equal significance was the fact that Bernadette was asked by others to learn the name of the Lady. When she asked the Lady for her name on March 25th, the Lady replied "Que soy era Immaculado Conceptiou", "I am the Immaculate Conception." (ibid., p. 301)

Of particular note was that Bernadette was a fourteen year-old girl at the time, completely unaware of the theological meaning of these words. It was only later when she reported this to others that she learned this is precisely what Pope Pius IX infallibly affirmed, clarified and defined in his Bull Ineffabilis Deusonly a few years earlier in 1854: We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful. (Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus)

For further details on the life of St. Bernadette, suggested reading includes, but is not limited to, Butler's Lives of the Saints.

REFERENCES

Thurston, H. and Atwater, D. Butler's Lives of the Saints Complete Edition, vol. I, (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, Inc., 1956).

St. Bernadette had 18 visits from the Virgin Mary near Lourdes in 1858.

Answer 2

St Bernadette. Her name was Bernadette Soubirous or Maria Bernada Sobirós and she was made a saint after seeing apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes.