Bernadette Soubirous was born on Monday January 7th 1844, the first
child of Francois and Louise. She was baptised in the parish church of
Lourdes. When Bernadette was only a few months old, her mother had an accident
and could not nurse her. At this time it was usual to breast feed babies
for at least two years. So Bernadette went to live with her foster mother
in Bartres. She had six brothers and two sisters, five of the brothers
died before they were ten.
Her father was a miller. He ran the Boly Mill, but tended to give the
product away to the poor instead of selling it, eventually the family were
reduced to poverty and had to move into the cachot (a one room abandoned
jail).
Bernadette nearly died of cholera when she was ten. When she was thirteen
her parents sent her back to Bartres. Shortly after her fourteenth birthday,
Bernadette returned to Lourdes and began to prepare for her First Holy
Communion. Bernadette still could not read or write and didn't even speak
French, only patois.
It was on February 11th 1858 that Bernadette and her two sisters were
out gathering firewood. Bernadette was left behind as her sisters crossed
a small stream. She heard a sound like a storm and looking across the stream
she saw the apparition for the first time in a grotto at the foot of rock
called Massabielle. She saw a lady dressed in white with a blue sash and
a yellow rose on each foot. The lady did not speak, but made the sign of
the cross. The vision disapeared suddenly.
The lady did not speak until the third time she appeared to Bernadette.
She asked Bernadette if she would like to meet her there every day for
a fortnight, Bernadette said she would. She told Bernadette to tell the
priests to have a chapel built there. Then she told her to drink at the
spring. Not seeing one, she went to drink from the stream. The lady told
Bernadette that the stream wasn't there, but pointed to a pool of muddy
water. Bernadette scraped at the muddy ground and eventually fresh water
appeared. She drank some and the vision disappeared.
Bernadette returned every day for a fortnight and on every occasion
but for two, the vision appeared. The lady insisted many times that the
priests must build a chapel there, and that Bernadette must wash in the
spring and that she must pray for sinners. During the fortnight the lady
told Bernadette three secrets. Many times Bernadette asked the lady who
she was, but she would only smile. Eventually the lady said "Que soy era
Immaculada Conceptiou" - I am The Immaculate Conception. When asked by
the priest if she knew what that meant, Bernadette did not. The phrase
had only been applied to Mary four years before and would only be known
amongst the clergy, so it was very improbable that an illiterate poor French
girl would have heard it.
Thus the local priest came to believe Bernadette's story and later
Church investigations have confirmed the apparitions as genuine. There
have been numerous miraculous healings reported related to the shrine and
especially the water of the spring.
