Collection: Our Lady of Lourdes

ARTIST: Brenda Nippert

ARTWORK NARRATIVE:

In 1858, Mary appeared several times to a young girl named Bernadette Soubirous near Lourdes, France. Mary called herself the Immaculate Conception, the title under which the United States had taken her as its patroness 12 years earlier. Bernadette was the only one who could see and hear the apparition, but even after being scolded by her mother, heckled by the crowds, questioned roughly by the authorities and even taken to jail, brave Bernadette never backed down. She did what Mary asked of her at all costs. Mary sent her to the local priests to ask that a church be built on the spot where she appeared. She told Bernadette to dig in the mud and drink from the spring she found there. People in the crowd mocked Bernadette and called her a pig, until miraculous healings began to happen to those who drank or bathed in the water. They say Our Lady taught Bernadette a prayer just for her and she prayed it every day for the rest of her life, never revealing it to anyone.

Today, Lourdes is one of the most popular shrines in the world, as the healings both physical and spiritual are still happening regularly. Many call on Our Lady of Lourdes to make them brave like Bernadette and she comes to their aid in accordance with God's will to bestow God's graces which he has granted for us. Mary told Bernadette that she did not promise to make her happy in this world, but in the next. Bernadette clung to these words all of her days, through the pain and suffering of bone cancer, keeping her eyes fixed on the Heaven Mary had promised her.

Her feast day is February 11.

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On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus. A little more than three years later, on February 11, 1858, a young lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous. This began a series of visions. During the apparition on March 25, the lady identified herself with the words: “I am the Immaculate Conception."

Bernadette was a sickly child of poor parents. Their practice of the Catholic faith was scarcely more than lukewarm. Bernadette could pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Creed. She also knew the prayer of the Miraculous Medal: “O Mary conceived without sin."

During interrogations Bernadette gave an account of what she saw. It was “something white in the shape of a girl." She used the word aquero, a dialect term meaning “this thing." It was “a pretty young girl with a rosary over her arm." Her white robe was encircled by a blue girdle. She wore a white veil. There was a yellow rose on each foot. A rosary was in her hand. Bernadette was also impressed by the fact that the lady did not use the informal form of address (tu), but the polite form (vous). The humble virgin appeared to a humble girl and treated her with dignity.

Through that humble girl, Mary revitalized and continues to revitalize the faith of millions of people. People began to flock to Lourdes from other parts of France and from all over the world. In 1862 Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions and authorized the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes for the diocese. The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes became worldwide in 1907.

Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and healing, but even more of faith. Church authorities have recognized over 60 miraculous cures, although there have probably been many more. To people of faith this is not surprising. It is a continuation of Jesus' healing miracles—now performed at the intercession of his mother. Some would say that the greater miracles are hidden. Many who visit Lourdes return home with renewed faith and a readiness to serve God in their needy brothers and sisters.

There still may be people who doubt the apparitions of Lourdes. Perhaps the best that can be said to them are the words that introduce the film The Song of Bernadette: “For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible."