Saint Bernadette
Saint Bernadette Soubirous (born January 7, 1844 in Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France; died April 16, 1879 in Nevers, Nièvre, France) was a French visionary who, as a fourteen-year-old girl, received eighteen apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Grotto of Massabielle near Lourdes between February 11 and July 16, 1858. The apparitions, approved by the Church in 1862, gave rise to one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world—the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes—and made the word "Lourdes" synonymous with healing, pilgrimage, and the power of the Immaculate Conception. Bernadette herself lived the rest of her life in religious obscurity with the Sisters of Notre-Dame de Nevers, dying at age thirty-five. She was canonized on December 8, 1933 by Pope Pius XI. Her feast day is April 16.
Bernadette Soubirous is, along with Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, one of the most beloved French saints of the modern era—remarkable not for unusual deeds or intellectual achievement but for her simple, unaffected faith, the exactness and consistency of her testimonies during years of questioning, and the hidden holiness of her religious life at Nevers.
Stored in Cargo: Saint Bernadette
| Saint Bernadette | |
|---|---|
| Feast Day | April 16 |
| Profession | Visionary; religious sister |
| Rel. Affiliation | Sisters of Notre-Dame de Nevers (Congregation of Our Lady of Nevers) |
| Patronage | Lourdes; the sick; the poor; people ridiculed for their faith; shepherdesses; France (in part) |
| Attributes | The grotto with roses; a white and blue rosary; the Immaculate Conception appearing above her; white habit of the Sisters of Notre-Dame |
| Birthplace | Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, Occitanie, France |
| Death Place | Nevers, Nièvre, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France |
| Cause of Death | Tuberculosis and chronic illness |
| Primary Shrine | Convent of Saint-Gildard, Nevers, France — her incorrupt body rests here in a glass reliquary in the chapel; a major pilgrimage destination |
| Liturgical Class | Optional Memorial |
| Historic Class | April 16 |
Biography
Birth and early life
Bernadette Soubirous was born on January 7, 1844 in Lourdes, a small market town at the foot of the Pyrenees. She was the eldest of six children of François Soubirous, a miller, and Louise Casterot. Her family fell into severe poverty after François's mill failed; by 1858 the family of eight were living in a single room that had formerly been a prison cell (the Cachot).
Bernadette was small, frail, and had suffered from asthma since early childhood—a condition that never left her. She had received little schooling and had not yet made her First Communion because she had not mastered the required catechism. She spoke Gascon (the local dialect) more fluently than French. By every measure of the world she was the most unremarkable of children.
The eighteen apparitions (February–July 1858)
On February 11, 1858, Bernadette was with her sister and a friend gathering firewood near the Grotto of Massabielle (the pig's hole) by the Gave de Pau river when she heard a sound "like a gust of wind" and saw a beautiful young woman dressed in white with a blue sash in the grotto. The woman smiled at her, and Bernadette prayed the rosary.
The visions continued: on February 14 and 18. On February 18, the Lady spoke to her and asked her to come to the grotto every day for a fortnight. The subsequent daily apparitions attracted increasingly large crowds to Massabielle—despite the hostility of the local civil authorities, who interrogated Bernadette repeatedly and threatened her with imprisonment.
The most significant moments in the series of apparitions:
- February 25 — the Lady asked Bernadette to dig in the ground and drink from the spring that would appear there. Bernadette scratched at the muddy ground and a trickle of water appeared; within a week it had become a flowing spring producing 32,000 gallons of water per day. This spring has been associated with thousands of healings over the subsequent century and a half.
- March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation — when Bernadette asked the Lady for her name, the Lady replied in Gascon: Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou ("I am the Immaculate Conception"). Bernadette had no theological understanding of this phrase—she had to repeat it over and over all the way to her confessor's house to avoid forgetting it. The identification of the Lady with the Immaculate Conception—a dogma defined by Pius IX only four years earlier, in 1854—was considered by theologians one of the most theologically striking features of the entire episode.
- July 16, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel — the eighteenth and final apparition. Bernadette later said this was the most beautiful of all.
Interrogations and the establishment of the shrine
Throughout the period of the apparitions, Bernadette was interrogated repeatedly by civil authorities (who wished to discredit her or stop the growing crowds), by Church authorities, and by physicians. She gave consistent, simple, exact accounts that resisted every attempt at contradiction, manipulation, or embellishment. She consistently refused to make any financial or personal profit from the visions, and consistently repeated that the Lady had asked for a chapel to be built and processions to come.
The Bishop of Tarbes, Monsignor Laurence, appointed a commission of inquiry. After four years of investigation, on January 18, 1862, the bishop officially approved the Marian apparitions as worthy of credence and authorized the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Religious life at Nevers
In July 1866, Bernadette entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre-Dame de Nevers (Our Lady of Nevers) at their motherhouse in Nevers, 300 miles from Lourdes. She took the name Sister Marie-Bernarde. She lived there for thirteen years—in considerable physical suffering from her chronic asthma, bone tuberculosis (a disease of the knee which became agonizing in her final years), and other illnesses—performing modest duties in the infirmary and sacristy.
She sought and found no fame at Nevers. She reportedly said that the Virgin had not promised her happiness in this life, but in the next. Her spirituality was marked by simplicity, suffering borne without complaint, and a persistent refusal of spiritual consolations that might have flattered her sense of being specially chosen.
Bernadette died on April 16, 1879, at age thirty-five, from tuberculosis of the bone and lung. Her last words, gripping the crucifix, were: Sainte Marie, Mère de Dieu, priez pour moi, pauvre pécheresse ("Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me, a poor sinner").
Incorruption
Bernadette's body was exhumed three times (in 1909, 1919, and 1925). On each occasion it was found incorrupt—the flesh preserved and the features recognizable. The incorrupt body rests today in a glass reliquary in the Chapel of Saint Bernadette at the Convent of Saint-Gildard in Nevers, and is venerated by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year.
Lourdes
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes that grew up around the Grotto of Massabielle became one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world, with approximately 6 million pilgrims per year in the modern era. The Lourdes Medical Bureau—established to rigorously evaluate claimed miraculous healings at Lourdes—has recognized 70 officially certified miraculous cures since 1858. The number of documented healings that did not meet the strict criteria for official recognition is far larger.
Lourdes is particularly associated with the sick and disabled—the great hospitalité that organizes assistance to infirm pilgrims is one of the most distinctive features of the shrine, and the sight of the sick being carried to the baths is one of the most moving experiences in contemporary Catholic pilgrimage.
Significant events
- Born January 7, 1844 in Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées; family living in extreme poverty.
- First apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, February 11, 1858, at the Grotto of Massabielle.
- Discovery of the miraculous spring, February 25, 1858.
- Lady identifies herself as "the Immaculate Conception," March 25, 1858.
- Eighteenth and final apparition, July 16, 1858.
- Bishop Laurence approves the apparitions as worthy of belief, January 18, 1862.
- Bernadette enters the Sisters of Notre-Dame de Nevers, July 1866.
- Dies April 16, 1879 in Nevers, age 35.
- Body found incorrupt at three exhumations: 1909, 1919, 1925.
- Beatified June 14, 1925 by Pope Pius XI.
- Canonized December 8, 1933 by Pope Pius XI (Feast of the Immaculate Conception).
Significant locations
Legend
Birth location: Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, Occitanie, France
Death location: Nevers, Nièvre, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France
Notable location: The site of the 18 apparitions of Our Lady; now the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes; c. 6 million pilgrims per year (Grotto of Massabielle, Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France)
Notable location: Where she lived her religious life with the Sisters of Notre-Dame; where her incorrupt body rests (Convent of Saint-Gildard, Nevers, Nièvre, France)
Notable location: Her birthplace and home during the apparitions; the Cachot (the prison cell her family lived in is preserved) (Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France)
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Parishes
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Media
Shrines
Dynamic shrines
No results
No shrines where this saint is the primary saint.
Known shrines
- Grotto of Massabielle, Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France — the site of the apparitions; the sacred spring; c. 6 million pilgrims per year.
- Convent of Saint-Gildard, Nevers, Nièvre, France — where her incorrupt body rests in a glass reliquary; a major pilgrimage site.
- The Cachot, Lourdes, France — the former prison cell where her family lived, preserved as a museum.
Canonization
Beatification
Bernadette Soubirous was beatified on June 14, 1925 by Pope Pius XI in Vatican City.
Canonization
She was canonized on December 8, 1933—the Feast of the Immaculate Conception—by Pope Pius XI in Vatican City.
Miracles
The 70 officially recognized miraculous cures at Lourdes are not attributed to Bernadette personally but to Our Lady of Lourdes. The miracles authenticated in Bernadette's own canonization process were cures attributed to her personal intercession, distinct from the ongoing Lourdes cures.
Feast day
April 16
Veneration
Saint Bernadette is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church with a feast day on April 16. She is particularly beloved in France, and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes—which her visions gave rise to—is one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the Catholic world.
Prayers
Authored
There are prayers authored by this saint in prayers list yet.
Intercessory
There are no prayers asking for this saint's intercession in prayers list yet.
Books
Written about the saint
- Franz Werfel, The Song of Bernadette (1942) — a celebrated novel by a Jewish author who had sheltered in Lourdes during the war; a major popular account.
- René Laurentin, Bernadette of Lourdes — scholarly biographical account by a leading Marian theologian.
- Patricia A. McEachern, A Holy Life: The Writings of St. Bernadette of Lourdes — translations of her letters and personal writings.