Saint Bernadette was born in 1844 in the town of Lourdes in Southern France. The first child of a poor miller, the family lived in the basement of a run-down building at the time that the Blessed Virgin Mary began appearing to Bernadette.

Bernadette was 14-years old when on February 11, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary first appeared to her above a rose bush in a grotto called Massabielle.

Bernadette described her as a young lady who wore blue and white and carried a rosary of ivory and gold. She smiled at Bernadette who immediately fell to her knees and began to pray.

Our Lady appeared 18 times to Bernadette with the final appearance on the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on July 16th. On her appearance on February 25, Our Lady asked Bernadette “to drink of the water of the spring, to wash in it and eat the herb that grew there” as an act of penance. By the next day, the muddy waters of the grotto flowed clear.

Since the time that fresh, clear water has flowed from the spring, 69 cures attributed to the spring waters have been verified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau.

Following her vision on March 2, Our Lady asked that “a chapel should be built and a procession formed” at the site of the apparitions. Later on March 25, Our Lady revealed to Bernadette that she was “the Immaculate Conception.”

In 1866, Bernadette entered the Sisters of Notre Dame in Nevers. Her health was fragile and after suffering from tuberculosis of the bone, she died at the age of 35 on April 16, 1879. She was canonized in 1933 by Pope Pius XI.

Other Saints of the Day:
1. Saint Fructuosus of Braga
2. Saint Drogo
3. Saint Benedict Joseph Labre
4. Saint Magnus of Orkney
5. Saint Turibius of Astorga