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St. Bernadette Soubirous

Also known as Bernadette of Lourdes; religious name: Marie-Bernarde.

She was a miller’s daughter from Lourdes (Lorda in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrenees in France. She’s best known for having Marian apparitions of a “young lady” who asked for a chapel to be built at the nearby grotto. These Marian apparitions occurred between February 11th & July 16, 1858, & the young lady who appeared to her identified herself as the “Immaculate Conception.”

After an investigation, Bernadette’s reports were eventually declared “worthy of belief” on February 18, 1862, & the Marian appartion became as Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1866, Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers at their convent in Nevers where she spent the last years of her life.

Her body is said by the Catholic Church to remain internally incorrupt. The grotto where the apparitions occurred became a major ligrimage site & Marian shrine known as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, attracting around 5 million pilgrims do all denominations each year.

Pope Pius XI beatified Bernadette on June 14, 1925 & 8 years later canonized her on December 8, 1933. Her feast day is April 16, the date of her death. Initially specified her feast day as February 18, the day that Mary promised to make her happy, not in this life, but in the other/next.

She was born of January 7, 1844 & baptized at the local parish church (St. Pierre’s) 2 days after her birth (which was her parents’ wedding anniversary). She learned very little French, only studying French in school after 13. At that time, she could only read & write very little due to her frequent illness.

She spoke the language of Occitan. It was spoken by the local population of the Pyreness region at that time & to a residual degree today. It’s sometimes called Provencal.

On February 11, 1858, a 14 year old Bernadette was out collecting firewood with her sister, Toinette, & a friend near the grotto of Massabielle (Tuta de Massavielha) when she experienced her 1st vision/apparition. When the other girls crossed a little stream in front of the grotto & walked on, Bernadette stayed behind. Because she was looking for a place to cross the stream so she wouldn’t get her stockings wet.

She finally sat down to take her shoes off so she could cross the stream. She was lowering her stocking when she heard the sound of rushing wind. But nothing moved. A wild rose in a natural niche in the did move. From the niche (or a dark alcove behind it) “came a dazzling light, & a white figure.” Her sister, & friend, said they didn’t see anything.

On February 14th (Valentine’s Day), after Sunday Mass, Bernadette with her sister Marie & some other girls went back to the grotto. Bernadette knelt down immediately, saying she saw the apparition again. 1 of the girls threw holy water at the niche.

Another threw a rock from that shattered on the ground the apparition disappeared. On her next visit (February 18), Bernadette said that “the vision” asked her to return to the grotto every day for a fortnight (or 14 days). This period of almost daily visions came to be known as la Quinzaine sacree (“holy fortnight”). Initially, Bernadette’s parents (especially her mom) were embarrassed & tried to forbid her to go.

The supposed apparition didn’t identify herself in the 17th vision. Although the townspeople who believed she was telling the truth assumed she saw the Virgin Mary, Bernadette never claimed it to be Mary, consistently using the word aquero (Gascon Occitan for “that”). She described the lady as wearing a white veil, a blue girdle, & with a yellow rose on each foot.

Bernadette’s story caused a sensation among the townspeople, who were divided in their opinions on whether or not she was telling the truth. Some believed her to have a mental illness & demanded she put in an asylum. On February 25, she explained that the vision had told her “to drink of the water of the water of the spring, to wash in it & to eat the herb that grew there,” as an act of penance.

To everyone’s surprise, the next day the grotto was no longer muddy but clear water flowed. On March 2, at the 13th apparition, Bernadette told her family that the lady said that “a chapel should be built & a procession.”

The 16th vision, which Bernadette stated went on for over an hour, was on March 25. According to her account, during that visitation, she again asked for her name. But the lady just smiled back. She repeated the question 3 more times & finally heard the lady say, in Gascon Occitan, “I’m the Immaculate Conception.”

Despite being rigorously interviewed by officials of both the Catholic Church & the French government, she stuck consistently to her story. On April 7, Bernadette had another vision, during which her hand was apparently not burnt while being in contact with the flame of a candle for several minutes.

On June 8, 1858, the mayor of Lourdes decided to barricade the grotto & put guards to prevent public access. On July 16, Bernadette came back to see the grotto from the other side of the river & experienced her 18th, & last, apparition of the lady.

After investigation, Catholic Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions in 1862. In the 160 years since Bernadette dug up the in the spring, 72 cures have been verified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau as “inexplicable.”

Bernadette’s request to the local priest to build a chapel at the site of her visions eventually gave rise to a number of chapels & churches at Lourdes. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is now 1 of the major Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world.

1 of the churches built at the site, the Basilica of St. Pius X, can accommodate 25,000 people & was dedicated by the future Pope John XXIII when he was the Papal Nuncio to France. In 2013, 715,000 & in 2016, 570,000 pilgrims attended pilgrimage events.

Bernadette disliked the attention she was attracting, she went to the hospice school run by the Sisteres of Charity of Nevers where she had learned to read & write. Although she considered joining the Carmelites, her health precluded her from entering any of the strict contemplative orders.

On July 29, 1866, with 42 other candidates, she took the religious habit of a postulant & joined the Sisters of Charity at their mother house, the St. Gildard Convent at Nevers. The Mother Superior at the time gave her the name Marie-Bernarde in honor of her godmother who was named “Bernarde.”

Bernadette repent the rest of her brief life at the mother house, working as an assistant in the infirmary & later as a sacristan, creating ornate embroidery for altar cloths & vestments. A sacristan is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments & other church furnishings, sacred vessels, & parish records. Her contemporaries admired her humility & spirit of sacrifice.

One day, asked about the apparitions, she said: “The Virgin used me as a broom to remove the dust. When the work is done, the broom is put behind the door again.” Bernardette had followed the development of Lourdes as a pilgrimage shrine while she still lived at Lourdes.

But wasn’t present for the consecration of the Bascilica of the Immaculate Conception there in 1876. Bernadette’s childhood bout of cholera left her with severe, chronic asthma, & eventually she contracted tuberculosis of the lungs & bones. For several months prior to her death, she was unable to take an active part in convent life. She eventually died of her long-term illness at the age of 35 on April 26, 1879 (Easter Wednesday), while praying the Holy Rosary.

On her deathbed, as she suffered from severe pain & in keeping with the Virgin Mary’s admonition of “Penance, Penance, Penance,” Bernadette proclaimed that “all this is good for Heaven.” Her final words were, “Blessed Mary, Mother of God, pray for me.” Bernadette’s body was laid to rest in the St. Joseph Chapel, in the grounds of her convent.

Bernadette was declared blessed on June 14, 1921 by Pope Pius XI. She was canonized by Pius XI on December 8, 1933, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. She’s celebrated in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church of April 16.

In France, her liturgical celebration is an optional memorial & is held on February 18, which commemorates Bernadette’s 3rd vision. During which the “lady” told her that she doesn’t promise to make happy in this world, but in the other.

Bishop Gauthey of Nevers & the Catholic Church exhumed Bernadette’s body on September 22, 1909. This is in the presence of representatives appointed by the postulators of the cause, 2 doctors & a sister of the community. They claimed that although the crucifix in her hand & her rosary had both oxidized, her body appeared incorrupt – preserved from decomposition. This was cited as 1 of the miracles to support her canonization.

They washed & reclothed her body before re-burial in the Chapel of St. Joseph in a new double casket. The church exhumed the corpse a 2nd time on April 3, 1919, on the occasion of the approval of Bernadette’s canonization. Again, he body was returned to the vault of St. Joseph’s chapel.

In 1925, the church exhumed the body for a 3rd time. They took relics, which was sent to Rome. A precise imprint of the face was molded to make a wax mask based on the imprints & on some genuine photos to be placed on her body. This was common practice for relics in France as it was feared that the blackish tinge to the face & the sunken eyes & nose would be viewed as corruption by the wax casts. The remains were then placed in a gold & crystal reliquary in the Chapel of St. Bernadette at the main church of the convent.

In 1970, the convent at Nevers was converted into a pilgrimage center dedicated to Bernadette, run by volunteers & a few sisters & known as Espace Bernadette Soubirous Nevers. In the spring of 2015, the town of Lourdes lobbied for Bernadette’s remains to be returned to Lourdes, a move opposed by the city of Nevers.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes has a few bodily relics which traveled in several European dioseses from 2017 to be exposed for the veneration of people. In 2019, a new reliquary was built for the travel of the relics. In 2022, the reliquary visited the United States & the United Kingdom.

The relics 1st travedled to the United States from April-August 2022, visiting around 30 dioceses. In September & October 2022, the relics were exposed in around 50 places in England, Scotland, & Wales, including in the Westminster Cathedral & at the Carfin Lourdes Grotto.

The town of Lourdes became a major international pilgrimage sites attracting millions of visitors each year. Several churches & infrastructures were built around the cave where the apparitions occurred, forming together the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The sanctuary is reputed for the Loudes water steaming inside the cave from a spring discovered by Bernadette during the apparitions, which is said to have healing properties, attracting many sick pilgrims. The sanctuary also has a museum called the St. Bernadette Museum, dedicated to the history of the apparitions.

In the city center of Lourdes, pilgrims can visit the house where Bernadette was born & the room where here family was staying at the time of the apparitions. The Espace Bernadette Sourbirous Nevers is dedicated to her memory. This is where her body has been kept after her death. Her body is now exposed for the veneration of visitors. The city of Nevers also has a museum dedicated to the life of Bernadette, called the “Bernadette Museum.”

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Immaculate Conception

This is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was/is free from original sin from the moment of her conception. It’s 1 of the 4 Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. The feast day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8.

It wasn’t defined as a dogma until 1854, by Pope Pius IX in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus. While the Immaculate Conception asserts Mary’s freedom from original sin, the Council of Trent (1545-1563) had previously affirmed her freedom from personal sin non-dogmatically.

Many Protestant churches reject this doctrine as unscriptural. Some Anglicans accept this as a pious devotion. The teaching of the Immaculate Conception among Oriental Orthodoxy varies. The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church & the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church accept it.

Anne (who eventually becomes a saint), the mom of the Virgin Mary & Jesus’ maternal grandma, shows up for the 1st time in the 2nd-century apocryphal Gospel of James. Anne & her husband Joachim (who also became a saint) were infertile. But God heard their prayers. Mary was then conceived.

Within the Gospel of James, Mary’s conception happens without physical sexual intercourse between Anne & Joachim. This is to demonstrate Mary’s purity. The Eastern Orthodox Church believes that Mary was conceived by her parents like we all were.

Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, & Cyrus of Jerusalem came up with the idea of Mary as the new Eve. While yet immaculate & incorrupt, she wasn’t subject to original sin. Ephraim the Syrian said she was as innocent as Eve before the Fall.

Ambrose asserted Mary’s incorruptibility, attributing her virginity to grace & immunity from sin. Severus, the Bishop of Antioch, agreed to affirm Mary’s purity & immaculateness. John of Damascus extended the supernatural influence of God to Mary’s parents. This suggests they were purified by the Holy Spirit during her generation. According to John of Damascus, even the material of Mary’s origin was deemed pure & holy.

By the 4th century, the idea of Mary being free from sin was more widespread. But her being free from original sin, passed down from the OGs Adam & Eve, raised questions. The question became more acute when the feast of Mary’s conception brought the objection that, as adult spicy time is sinful, & to celebrate Mary’s conception was to celebrate a sinful act. (Let’s get 1 thing straight: God doesn’t make married adult spicy time between 2 consenting MARRIED adults a sin! He (God) in fact encourages a healthy marital sex life. “Be fruitful & multiply,” ring any bells! And how exactly do we multiply? This is the conclusion of our TED talk.)

The feast of Mary’s conception came from the Eastern Church in the 7th century. It reached England in the 11th century. From there, it spread out to Europe. It was given official approval in 1477 & extended to the whole church in 1693. The word “immaculate” wasn’t used until 1854.

This doctrine caused a “civil war” between the Franciscans & the Dominicans during the Middle Ages. The Franciscan “Scotists” were in favor & the Dominican “Thomists” against it.

The English ecclesiastic & scholar Eadmer (circa 1060-circa 1126) reasoned that Mary might have been conceived without original sin because of God’s omnipotence. It was also appropriate for her role as Mother of God. Potuit, decuit, fecit: “it was possible, it was fitting, therefore it was done.”

Others, like St. Bernard of Clairvaux (of the St. Bernard dog breed fame, 1090-1153) & Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) objected because if Mary were free of original sin at her superfluous conception. Then she would have no need of redemption. Thus making Christ’s saving redemption unneeded.

In 1439, the Council of Basel, in schism with Pope Eugene IV (who lived at the Council of Florence), declared the Immaculate Conception a “pious opinion” consistent with faith & Scripture. The Council of Trent made no explicit declaration on the topic. But did exempt her from the universality of original sin.

They also affirmed that she remained free from all stains of sin during her life, even the venial ones. By 1571, the revised Roman Breviary set out an elaborate celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.

Some devotees go so far as to hold that Anne had conceived Mary just by kissing her husband. They also believe that (St.) Anne’s dad & grandma had likewise been conceived without spicy adult time. However, (St.) Bridget of Sweden (circa 1303-1373) told how Mary herself had revealed to her that Anne & Joachim conceived their daughter through a spicy adult time, which was sinless because it was pure & free of sexual lust.

In the 16th & 17th centuries, Spain exploded with Immaculatist devotion. This led the Habsburg monarchs to demand the Holy See elevate this belief to the status of dogma.

In France in 1830, Catherine Laboure (May 2, 1806-December 31, 1876) saw a vision of Mary standing on a globe while a voice commanded her to have a medal made in imitation of what she saw. The medal said, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee,” which was a confirmation from Mary herself that she was conceived without sin. Laboure’s vision marked the beginning of a great 19th-century Marian revival.

In 1849, Pope Pius IX issued the encyclical Ubi primum, soliciting the bishops of the church for their views on whether the doctrine should be defined as dogma. 90% of those who responded were supportive. Although the Archbishop of Paris, Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour, warned that the Immaculate Conception “could be proved neither from the Scriptures nor from tradition.”

In 1854, the Immaculate Conception dogma was proclaimed with the bull Ineffabilis Deus. Ineffabilis Deus found the Immaculate Conception in the Ark of Salvation (Noah’s Ark), Jacob’s Ladder, the Burning Bush at Sinai, the Enclosed Garden from the Song of Song/Song of Solomon, & many more passages.

The pope’s advisors singled out 2 Bible passages: Genesis 3:15 – “I’ll put enmity between you & the woman.” This is a prophecy which reached fulfillment in the figure of the Woman in Revelation, crowned with stars & trampling the Dragon underfoot. Luke 1:28 – Specifically the phrase “full of grace” by which Gabriel greeted Mary was another reference to her Immaculate Conception: “she was never subject to the curse & was, together with her Son, the only partaker of perpetual benediction.”

Four years after the proclamation of the dogma, in 1858, the young Bernadette Soubirous (of the Lourdes grotto fame) said that Mary appeared to her at Lourdes in southern France, to announce that she was the Immaculate Conception. The Catholic Church later endorsed the apparition as authentic. There are other “approved” Marian apparitions in which Mary identified herself as the Immaculate Conception. For example, Our Lady of Gietrzwald in 1877, Poland.

The feast day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8. The Roman Missal (which contains texts & rubrics (a set of rules)) & the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours (a set of Catholic prayers) include references to Mary’s Immaculate Conception in the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Its celebration seems to have begun in the Eastern church in the 7th century & may have spread to Ireland by the 8th century. The earliest well-attested record in the Western Church is from England early in the 11th century. It was suppressed there after the Norman Conquest (1066). The 1st thorough exposition of the doctrine was a response to this suppression. It continued to spread through the 15th century despite accusations of heresy from the Thomists & strong objections from several prominent theologians.

Beginning around 1140, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Yes, like the dog breed. That’s where the dog breed got its name.), a Cistercian monk (This is a religious order of monks & nuns that branched off from the Benedictines.), wrote to Lyons Cathedral to express his surprise & dissatisfaction that it had recently begun to be observed there.

But in 1477, Pope Lixtus IV, who was a devoted Immaculist, put it on the Roman calendar via the papal bull called Cum praexcelsa. In 1481 & 1483, Pope Sixtus IV published 2 more bulls which prohibited anyone from preaching or teaching against the Immaculate Conception, or for either side to accuse the other of heresy, under threats of excommunication.

Pope Pius V kept the Feast on the Tridentine calendar. But suppressed the word “Immaculate.” Pope Gregory XV, in 1622, prohibited any public or private assertion that Mary was conceived in sin. In 1624, Pope Urban VIII allowed the Franciscans to establish a military order dedicated to the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo & Eritrean Orthodox Tewahed Churches believe in the Immaculate Conception of the Theotokos. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on August 13 (Nehasie 7).

Eastern Orthodoxy does not exempt Mary from original sin. But they do affirm Mary’s purity & preservation from personal sin.

In the mid-1800s, some Catholics who were unable to accept the doctrine of papal infallibility left the Roman Church & formed the Old Catholic Church. They reject the Immaculate Conception.

Protestants overwhelmingly condemned the announcement of Ineffabilis Deus. Protestants teach that Mary was a sinner, saved through grace, like everyone else.

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https://www.europesays.com/dk/74647/ ‘Polish Lourdes’ may draw global spotlight as Pope Leo XIV invited to Marian shrine anniversary in Warsaw #Gietrzwałd #MarianApparitions #MarianShrine #pilgrimage #Poland #PopeLeoXIV #SisterBarbaraSamulowska #VirginMary #Warsaw

‘Polish Lourdes’ may draw global spotlight as Pope Leo XIV invited to Marian shrine anniversary in Warsaw

Sister Barbara Samulowska, one of the child visionaries of the 1877 Marian apparitions in Gietrzwald, Poland, is pictured…
#Poland #Polska #PL #Europe #Europa #EU #Warsaw #Gietrzwałd #Marianapparitions #Marianshrine #pilgrimage #PopeLeoXIV #SisterBarbaraSamulowska #VirginMary
https://www.europesays.com/poland/4920/

‘Polish Lourdes’ may draw global spotlight as Pope Leo XIV invited to Marian shrine anniversary in Warsaw

Sister Barbara Samulowska, one of the child visionaries of the 1877 Marian apparitions in Gietrzwald, Poland, is pictured…
#Poland #Polska #PL #Europe #Europa #EU #Warsaw #Gietrzwałd #Marianapparitions #Marianshrine #pilgrimage #PopeLeoXIV #SisterBarbaraSamulowska #VirginMary
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https://www.europesays.com/dk/74614/ ‘Polish Lourdes’ may draw global spotlight as Pope Leo XIV invited to Marian shrine anniversary in Warsaw #Gietrzwałd #MarianApparitions #MarianShrine #pilgrimage #Poland #PopeLeoXIV #SisterBarbaraSamulowska #VirginMary #Warsaw