What is the story of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes?

Answer 1

Catholic Answer:

Bernadette, born Marie Bernarde Soubirous, was the eldest of four surviving children of François Soubirous and his wife Loïsa Casteròt. On February 11, 1858, while gathering firewood with her sister and a family friend, she had an apparition of a beautiful young lady near the town of Lourdes, France. During the vision she was told that she must return everyday for the next fortnight.

Bernadette was always a sickly child and this prevented her from attending school and catechism classes. She was basically illiterate. At the time she was only 14 years of age. Bernadette never referred to the apparition as the Blessed Virgin Mary, always referring to the vision as 'that.'

On February 25, 1858, she was instructed by the vision to dig with her hands a few inches below the soil where she was kneeling to reveal a miraculous spring of water. Since that time many thousands of pilgrims to Lourdes have followed the instruction of Our Lady of Lourdes to "drink at the spring and wash in it". Thousands of cures have been claimed but the Church, upon intense investigation of a committee of medical doctors and scientist, has only certified 67 as true miracles with no know explanation.

Bernadette was ridiculed by family, friends, local clergy and threatened with arrest by town authorities but she never wavered from her story one iota. The parish priest told Bernadette to request that the vision identify herself which Bernadette did on the 13th visit. The apparition simply smiled at her and only on the penultimate vision (the 17th) did she finally reveal herself as the "Immaculate Conception" which Bernadette did not understand. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception had only recently been declared by Rome and few outside the clergy knew of it. Her parents, teachers and priests all later testified that she had never previously heard the expression 'immaculate conception' from them.

Almost immediately the town of Lourdes became a destination for pilgrims from all over despite actions of both the Church and the French government to discourage it. The Catholic Church finally relented and had a shrine built on the location and today 5 million people per year visit the site. The Church has nothing to gain financially from the site but survives on votive offerings and donations from pilgrims. The town of Lourdes, however, has greatly benefited and now only the city of Paris has more hotels in all of France.

After investigation the Church approved the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes for public veneration. However, it is not an "article of faith" so belief in what happened at Lourdes is not a required belief for Catholics.

For more information about Saint Bernadette visit the link below.

Answer 2

As a young girl in 1858, Bernadette Soubirous supposedly saw apparitions of the Virgin Mary in a grotto near Lourdes. Bernadette's little friend who was with her on the first occasion, saw nothing. Although she was sometimes accompanied by others when she again saw these apparitions, only Bernadette was able to see the visions she described. Bernadette called the young woman in her visions aquero - "that one" - and it was only when others told her she had seen the Virgin Mary that Bernadette realised that she had indeed done so. The lack of any corroboration by other witnesses saw the local clergy ridicule her claims but then, as pilgrims began to arrive, they accepted them as true. The Catholic Church soon saw the commercial possibilities of these apparitions and aggressively marketed Lourdes as a place of pilgrimage. At first, there was no suggestion that miracle cures could be expected at Lourdes, but people of medieval and early modern times expected that wherever Mary's apparition was seen, one could expect the possibility of cures. With forceful marketing it became a place of pilgrimage for those hoping for a cure.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/catholicism/visions-of-the-virgin-mary

Answer 3

Bernadette, born Marie Bernarde Soubirous, was the eldest of four surviving children of François Soubirous and his wife Loïsa Casteròt. On February 11, 1858, while gathering firewood with her sister and a family friend, she had an apparition of a beautiful young lady near the town of Lourdes, France. During the vision she was told that she must return everyday for the next fortnight.
Bernadette was always a sickly child and this prevented her from attending school and catechism classes. She was basically illiterate. At the time she was only 14 years of age. Bernadette never referred to the apparition as the Blessed Virgin Mary, always referring to the vision as 'that.'
On February 25, 1858, she was instructed by the vision to dig with her hands a few inches below the soil where she was kneeling to reveal a miraculous spring of water. Since that time many thousands of pilgrims to Lourdes have followed the instruction of Our Lady of Lourdes to "drink at the spring and wash in it". Thousands of cures have been claimed but the Church, upon intense investigation of a committee of medical doctors and scientist, has only certified 67 as true miracles with no know explanation.
Bernadette was ridiculed by family, friends, local clergy and threatened with arrest by town authorities but she never wavered from her story one iota. The parish priest told Bernadette to request that the vision identify herself which Bernadette did on the 13th visit. The apparition simply smiled at her and only on the penultimate vision (the 17th) did she finally reveal herself as the "Immaculate Conception" which Bernadette did not understand. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception had only recently been declared by Rome and few outside the clergy knew of it. Her parents, teachers and priests all later testified that she had never previously heard the expression 'immaculate conception' from them.
Almost immediately the town of Lourdes became a destination for pilgrims from all over despite actions of both the Church and the French government to discourage it. The Catholic Church finally relented and had a shrine built on the location and today 5 million people per year visit the site. The Church has nothing to gain financially from the site but survives on votive offerings and donations from pilgrims. The town of Lourdes, however, has greatly benefited and now only the city of Paris has more hotels in all of France.
After investigation the Church approved the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes for public veneration. However, it is not an "article of faith" so belief in what happened at Lourdes is not a required belief for Catholics.

Answer 4

Saint Bernadette of Lourdes was a French peasant girl who, in 1858, claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary at a grotto near her town. She experienced several visions of Mary, who instructed her to dig a spring that became a site of healing. Despite skepticism, Bernadette's visions were eventually declared authentic by the Catholic Church, and she dedicated her life to prayer and charity. She is now considered a saint and her shrine at Lourdes is a major pilgrimage site.