About St. Bernadette

I decided to learn about St. Bernadette this week. My mom chose Bernadette as her confirmation name, so I am curious to know more about her. I knew that Our Blessed Mother appeared to her at Lourdes, but that’s all I knew, so this has been interesting.

Childhood and Family

Bernadette was born January 7, 1844, in Lourdes, France, the eldest of 9 children. Although her family was fairly prosperous at her birth, a series of unfortunate events led them to serious poverty. Eventually, they lived in one room that used to be a prison cell in the basement of a dilapidated building. It was considered too unsanitary to be used for a prison, anymore.

The Visions

On February 11, 1858, when Bernadette was 14 years old, her parents sent her, along with one of her sisters and a friend, to get firewood. While in the woods, Mary appeared to her for the first time. She described it like this:

“I came back towards the grotto and started taking off my stockings. I had hardly taken off the first stocking when I heard a sound like a gust of wind. Then I turned my head towards the meadow. I saw the trees quite still: I went on taking off my stockings. I heard the same sound again. As I raised my head to look at the grotto, I saw a Lady dressed in white, wearing a white dress, a blue girdle and a yellow rose on each foot, the same color as the chain of her rosary; the beads of the rosary were white.“ (cited here, para 4)

Three days later she saw Mary again, and this time Mary asked her to return every day for a fortnight, which became known as “la Quinzaine sacree” or the “Holy Fortnight.” Bernadette’s parents were embarrassed by her claims of seeing visions and tried to prevent her from returning to the grotto. Although Bernadette was a very obedient daughter, she could not stay away.

On February 25, she had a life-changing vision. Mary asked her to drink from the spring, but Bernadette couldn’t see a spring. She started digging with her hands in a spot that Mary indicated, and water started to flow. As Bernadette drank from the muddy water, her face became muddy, too. People who had come to the grotto to watch her were repulsed by her actions and decided that she must be crazy. However, the water that flowed later became a clear spring, which is where people go still today seeking healing.

Bernadette called Mary, “the lady,” when she described the visions, because she didn’t know who it was. She finally asked, and at first got no answer, just a smile as a response. Finally, after being asked 3 more times, she answered, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” (cited here, para 9) At the time, Bernadette did not understand what she meant, maybe because the Vatican had only recently declared the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. It was explained to her later.

After the Visions

One thing the Blessed Mother asked was that a chapel be built at the location where she appeared. When Bernadette initially approached Father Dominique Peyramale, her parish priest, to ask that the chapel be built, he was not supportive. In fact, he was even hostile. But he eventually came around, and he went on to be one of her greatest supporters.

No other claims of visions have undergone so much scrutiny as Bernadette. The town was divided with some believing and some thinking she should be put in a mental institution. She was interviewed intensely by Church authorities and the French government. Another source says she endured the “well-wishers, skeptics, disbelievers, and the curious who wished to hear directly from the ‘Visionary of Lourdes’ herself.” (cited here, para 23)

Notably, Bernadette never sought fame; in fact, she longed for a quiet simple life. However, every account of people who pursued her described her as patient, kind, humble, and cooperative.

The Church confirmed that Bernadette’s visions were real in 1862. Since the spring became clear, there have been 69 cures verified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau. No one could explain the cures any other way. In fact, the Church claimed there were “extremely rigorous scientific and medical examinations.”

Religious Life

Bernadette petitioned to enter a convent. When she first arrived there, the Mother Superior called all the sisters together and had Bernadette tell them all about her visions. Then she instructed them that the subject was off limits from that time forward. That was a relief to Bernadette who was happy that she would not be the center of attention for a while. But senior clergy and dignitaries still came from time to time to ask about her visions.

Ironically, Bernadette was somewhat sickly for her entire life. She had cholera and extreme asthma as a toddler, and she was never really healthy. Yet, she never went back to the spring at Lourdes to get healing for herself. When asked about it she answered, “It is not for me.” (cited here, para 28)

Sister Nathalie Portat cared for Bernadette in her final day, April 16, 1879, when Bernadette was just 35 years old. That afternoon Bernadette became very upset as if she was tortured by some inner conflict. Sister Portat reported, “At the words of the Angelic Salutation: ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God,’ the dying woman revived, and in a voice full of conviction, a voice that in her final moments expressed her profound humility and her daughterly confidence in the Immaculate Virgin, she twice repeated: ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me, a poor sinner.'” (cited here, para 30) a few moents later Bernadette made a large sign of the cross, drank a few drops of water, and left her mortal body. (para 31)

Sainthood

Bernadette was beatified in 1925 and canonized by Pope Pius XI in December, 1933. She is the patroness of illness, people ridiculed for their piety, poverty, shepherds, shepherdesses, and Lourdes, France. Her feastday is April 16.

Franciscan Media shares this reflection: “Millions of people have come to the spring Bernadette uncovered for healing of body and spirit, but she found no relief from ill health there. Bernadette moved through life, guided only by blind faith in things she did not understand—as we all must do from time to time.” (cited here, para 6)