On January 7, 1844, in Lourdes, a small town in the south of France, a girl was born named Marie-Bernarde Soubirous. Everyone called her Bernadette. Her family was very, very poor. Her father, Francois, was a miller who had lost his work, and so the six of them ended up living in a sad place: the Cachot, an old abandoned jail with a single room, dark, damp, and cold. Bernadette was the oldest of four children.

The Sickly Girl

Bernadette was small for her age, weak and often ill. She had asthma that made her cough without stopping, and sometimes she could hardly breathe. She had gone hungry as a little child and had never managed to attend school properly, so she could not read or write. But she was sweet, kind, and devout. She prayed a great deal and loved Our Lady. Those who knew her said that this simple girl had the heart of a saint.

February 11, 1858: The First Apparition

On February 11, 1858, Bernadette was fourteen years old. That day, she went out with her sister and a friend to gather firewood. They came to the river Gave, near a grotto called Massabielle. The other girls crossed the stream, but Bernadette stayed behind, afraid the cold water would make her asthma worse. Suddenly, she heard a sound like a strong wind. Yet there was no wind at all: the trees were not even stirring.

Bernadette looked toward the grotto and saw a brilliant light. Within the light stood a most beautiful Lady, dressed in white, with a blue sash at her waist and a golden rose on each foot. Her face was very young, and she smiled with great sweetness. Bernadette stood frozen, frightened and enchanted at the same time. The Lady beckoned her to come closer, but the girl could not move.

Without thinking, Bernadette reached for her rosary. She tried to make the sign of the cross, but she could not lift her hand. Then the Lady took the rosary she herself was carrying and made the sign of the cross, with perfect grace. Only then could Bernadette make her own. She prayed the whole rosary, and the Lady followed along, passing the beads through her fingers and moving her lips in silence. When the prayer ended, the Lady disappeared.

Bernadette went home changed, and at first she said nothing. But her sister noticed something strange about her and asked so many questions that Bernadette finally told her: she had seen a beautiful Lady at the grotto. She could not say whether it was Our Lady; she only knew that she was very beautiful. Her parents grew worried, thinking the girl was seeing things because of her poor health.

February 14: The Second Apparition

Bernadette felt an enormous longing to return to the grotto. On Sunday, February 14, she asked her parents' permission; they hesitated, but let her go, with one instruction: take holy water. Bernadette went with several girls. When she reached the grotto, she knelt, began to pray the rosary, and the Lady appeared again.

Bernadette sprinkled the holy water toward her and said:

"If you come from God, stay. If you do not, go away."

The Lady only smiled, more sweetly still. Bernadette understood: she came from God. They prayed the rosary together once more. The other girls saw nothing; they saw only Bernadette, kneeling, absorbed, her face glowing with happiness. When the vision ended, Bernadette wept, wishing it had stayed.

February 18: "Come here for fifteen days"

At the third apparition, on February 18, the Lady spoke for the first time. She said, in the local dialect:

"Would you do me the grace of coming here for fifteen days?"

"Yes, I will," Bernadette answered.

And the Lady added a sentence Bernadette never forgot:

"I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the other."

Then she disappeared. Bernadette went home radiant: the Lady had spoken to her.

The Apparitions Continue

In the days that followed, Bernadette returned to the grotto every day. The Lady did not always appear, but when she did, it was a great joy. The news spread, and hundreds of people began coming to watch. They saw Bernadette in ecstasy, her face transformed, but they could not see the Lady: only Bernadette could. Some believed; others said it was imagination, or the trick of a poor girl.

February 25: "Go drink and wash at the spring"

At the ninth apparition, on February 25, something extraordinary happened. The Lady told Bernadette to go drink and wash at the spring. Bernadette looked around and saw no spring at all; only the river, farther off. Even so, she obeyed the Lady's gesture and began to dig at the dry ground with her bare hands. She dug and dug, until a little water began to seep up. At first it was almost mud; then it slowly grew clearer.

Bernadette drank that muddy water and washed her face with it, in front of everyone. Many people thought she had lost her mind. But the next day, the spring was flowing strongly — clear, pure, fresh water. And soon, stories of cures began to be told: sick people who drank that water and got well. The spring of Lourdes flows to this day.

"Penance," and a Request

In those days, the Lady gave the girl a serious message, repeated three times:

"Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray for sinners."

And on March 2, she also asked Bernadette to go and tell the priests to build a chapel there. Bernadette obeyed and went to Father Peyramale, the parish priest of Lourdes. The priest, suspicious, wanted to know who this Lady was and what her name might be. Bernadette did not know: the Lady had not yet said. So the priest sent back a bold reply: let this Lady give her own name, and make the rosebush at the grotto bloom in the middle of winter. Then he would believe.

March 25: "I Am the Immaculate Conception"

Bernadette returned to the grotto several times to ask the Lady's name. Finally, on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, at the sixteenth apparition, she asked once more, as politely as she knew how. The Lady joined her hands, raised her eyes to heaven, and said:

"I am the Immaculate Conception."

Bernadette ran off to tell the priest, repeating the words the whole way so she would not forget them. She did not even know what they meant.

When Bernadette arrived and repeated the name, Father Peyramale turned pale. A girl who could barely read could never have invented that expression. It was Our Lady — truly Our Lady. From that day on, he believed, and he began working to have the chapel built.

The Last Apparitions

Our Lady appeared to Bernadette eighteen times in all. The last apparitions were in April and July of 1858. At the farewell, on July 16, Bernadette could not reach the grotto, which had been fenced off; she stood on the far side of the river. Even from a distance, she saw Our Lady with perfect clarity. She said afterward that she had never seen her look so beautiful. It was the last meeting: Our Lady would not appear again.