(887K)
3072 x 2304
|
On February 11, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a 14-year-old girl named Bernadette Soubirous. |
(1789K)
3072 x 2304
|
More visions followed, for a total of 18, with the last occurring on July 16, 1858. |
(829K)
3072 x 2304
|
The Virgin Mary appeared as a young and beautiful lady ("lovelier than I have ever seen," Bernadette said). |
(1038K)
3072 x 2304
|
The lady prayed the Rosary with Bernadette: "The Lady took the rosary that she held in her hands and she made the sign of the cross. Then I commenced not to be afraid. I took my rosary again; I was able to make the sign of the cross; from that moment I felt perfectly undisturbed in mind. I knelt down and said my rosary, seeing this Lady always before my eyes." |
(633K)
3072 x 2304
|
"The Vision slipped the beads of her rosary between her fingers, but she did not move her lips." |
(1734K)
3072 x 2304
|
"She told me also that she did not promise to make me happy in this world, but in the next." |
(1058K)
3072 x 2304
|
"She repeated to me several times that I was to tell the priests they were to build a Chapel there, and I was to go to the fountain to wash, and that I was to pray for sinners." |
(2307K)
3072 x 2304
|
As more people gathered for subsequent visions, the police began to keep an eye on the place and were alarmed by the events. The Police Commissioner questioned Bernadette, threatened her and her family. |
(1180K)
3072 x 2304
|
Despite the doubts of many, including her priests, "she is no liar", said her mother. |
(1877K)
3072 x 2304
|
There was a message of prayer repeated at the Grotto and in the town: "Penance! Pray for the conversion of sinners." And pry they did. |
(1117K)
3072 x 2304
|
A previously undiscovered spring welled up: "(The Lady) told me that I should go and drink at the fountain and wash myself... under the rock. I went, and I found a puddle of water which was more like mud, and the quantity was so small that I could hardly gather a little in the hollow of my hand. Nevertheless I obeyed, and started scratching the ground; after doing that I was able to take some." |
(1954K)
3072 x 2304
|
Much more than a mere purifying water which may sometimes produce miraculous cures, this water is the mystical sign of the water that flowed with the Blood from Christ's side. |
(1043K)
3072 x 2304
|
The prosecutor again summoned Bernadette. For two long hours, Bernadette stood on her feet with her mother standing beside her as she endured a grilling interrogation. She was questioned, accused, and threatened with all kinds of insinuations. |
(1768K)
3072 x 2304
|
Bernadette returned disheartened from the events and persecutions of the prior day, fearing that all was coming to an end. But, everything was just beginning. Water began flowing strongly from the spring, and a few spectacular miracles quickly renewed the expectations of the followers. |
(898K)
3072 x 2304
|
The lady had not revealed her name, but now gave Bernadette a command: "Go and tell the priest to build a chapel here and to have people come in procession." |
(2202K)
3072 x 2304
|
At first Bernadette was turned away and called a liar by the furious priest, but before the night was over, she was accompanied by a friend of the priest to deliver her message. Bernadette was questioned thoroughly in front of the entire parish clergy. |
(2049K)
3072 x 2304
|
The priest responded to Bernadette, "If the lady wants her chapel, let her tell you her name, and ask her to make the rosebush at the grotto flower" |
(1791K)
3072 x 2304
|
"The next day when I arrived at the grotto I recited my rosary and then asked her, from M. le Cure what her name was, but all she did was to smile." |
(1349K)
3072 x 2304
|
Bernadette was again subjected to a formal interrogation. Questioned by the authorities about the so-called miracles and her intentions. She was also submitted to repeated medical examinations to prove her sanity. |
(2740K)
3072 x 2304
|
The Soubirous family is still destitute. They are still lodged in the Cachot (former prison). Her father had no stable job. Food is hard to come by. And, Bernadette fiercely refuses gifts and money. Events have become more stressful, and interrogations and prison are a constant threat. |
(2916K)
3072 x 2304
|
After three weeks with no visions, and life returning to normalcy, Bernadette felt a call to return to the grotto on March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation. |
(2868K)
3072 x 2304
|
Bernadette joyfully rejoined the lady in the grotto. This time she was determined to obtain the lady's name, so that she could finally tell the priest. She repeated four times the question she had practiced so often, "Would you be so kind as to tell me who you are?" The answer finally came: "I am the Immaculate Conception." |
(3080K)
3072 x 2304
|
"Then I went back to M. le Cure to tell him that she had said she was the Immaculate Conception, and he asked was I absolutely certain. I said yes, and so as not to forget the words, I had repeated them all the way home." |
(2829K)
3072 x 2304
|
These words were completely unfamiliar to Bernadette, she only later learned that this is a title of the Blessed Mother. "She could never have invented this ... " wrote Fr. Peyramale to the bishop that evening. |
(781K)
3072 x 2304
|
The Church declared that Mary was the "Immaculate Conception" only four years earlier in 1854. The title would certainly have been unknown to Bernadette who could not read or write. |
(2361K)
3072 x 2304
|
Two more apparitions were to occur following Our Lady's announcement that she was in fact the Immaculate Conception, the Mother of God. |
(2022K)
3072 x 2304
|
Bernadette went on to receive her first Holy Communion on June 3rd. She was indeed the first to live the message of penance, receiving visitors tirelessly and repeating the events over and over. This wore greatly on her health and hindered her education. |
(1943K)
3072 x 2304
|
In the next apparition, three days after Easter, a skeptic Dr. Dozous came "in the name of science" He observed Bernadette's candle burn down and the flames lick her fingers for ten minutes, yet she wasn't harmed or burned. From that moment, Dr. Dozous became an ardent supporter of the apparitions and an important witness. |
(2334K)
3072 x 2304
|
On the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16, the grotto was barricaded, but this would not prevent them from making their final goodbyes. "I thought I was at the Grotto, at the same distance as I was the other times. All I saw was Our Lady ... She was more beautiful than ever."
|
(2438K)
3072 x 2304
|
Days following the final apparition, on July 28, 1858 Bishop Laurence of Tarbes appointed a commission to investigate the entire affair. |
(2157K)
3072 x 2304
|
The commission worked and studied for three and one-half years. Every witness was interrogated and countless reports made. Thirty-five cases of inexplicable healing were examined and confirmed miracles. |
(1009K)
3072 x 2304
|
These miracles, combined with Bernadette's unwavering and undoubted credibility, ultimately convinced Bishop Laurence of the truth of the Virgin Mary's apparitions. He declared in a Pastoral Letter dated January 18, 1862, that "truly, the Virgin did appear to Bernadette." |
(2292K)
3072 x 2304
|
The steady flow of pilgrims transformed Massabielle into a center of religious fervor. |
(843K)
3072 x 2304
|
The "Crypt," a chapel built within the interior of the rock rising over the Grotto, was dedicated in 1866 in Bernadette's presence. |
(609K)
3072 x 2304
|
In 1963 Lyons sculptor Joseph Fabisch would carve an image of the Lady in Carrara marble. Fabisch brought the finished work to Lourdes and all present showered him with praise over the achievement. Bernadette, first gazing at it with admiration, finally concluded "No, it is not her". |
(1222K)
3072 x 2304
|
While the famous statue could not capture the pure kindness and simplicity of the "little Lady," it was dedicated with a procession and formal ceremony on April 4, 1864. The statue still remains in the crevasse of the rock where Our Lady appeared. Countless millions of pilgrims have knelt and prayed before the icon. |
(1096K)
3072 x 2304
|
Bernadette would soon enter the Convent of St. Gildard. She remained hidden in a convent about 300 miles from home, a refuge from the interrogations and the pilgrims that never ceased seeking her.
|
(508K)
3072 x 2304
|
Bernadette was to die in 1879 after a prolonged and painful illness. At 35, her strong-willed manner gave way to her frail body, and she finally entered into her eternal happiness. |
(2203K)
3072 x 2304
|
The most spectacular of all the incorruptibles, Bernadette's body remained buried in a damp grave for thirty years until the cause for beatification was taken up. Found to be miraculously preserved, to this day, the face of Bernadette is one of surreal beauty. |
(800K)
3072 x 2304
|
The saint of Lourdes ... the saint of penance ... the saint of poverty |
(1486K)
3072 x 2304
|
|
(950K)
3072 x 2304
|
|
(2237K)
3072 x 2304
|
|
(927K)
3072 x 2304
|
|
(1687K)
3072 x 2304
|
|
(1072K)
3072 x 2304
|
|
(1637K)
3072 x 2304
|
|
