St. Bernadette

Feast Day April 16th

Patron Saint of illness, people ridiculed for their piety, poverty, shepherds, shepherdesses, and Lourdes, France

Bernadette Soubirous is the saint of Lourdes, France. Visionary and messenger of the Immaculate Conception, she told us the very words of the Virgin Mary, spoken in the native Basque tongue of Southern France and Northern Spain. She spoke words teaching of the merits of prayer, penance, poverty and church. In the first and most widely recognized Marian apparition of modern times, a very personal message was delivered to Bernadette—that she would not find happiness in this world, but only in the next.

What follows are words, either spoken or written, by Bernadette herself:
“The Lady was dressed in white, with a white veil on her head, and a blue sash at her waist. A Rosary of white beads on a golden chain was on her right arm. On that cold winter’s day, her feet were bare, but on each foot was a golden rose radiant with the warmth of summer.”

She received several visions from the Virgin Mary starting in 1858. When she reported these visions, civil authorities attempted to force her to recant her accounts. She refused, and word spread about the cave she had found with supposed miracle healing springs. Napolean III’s wife helped her achieve her vision to build a church at the cave, and Lourdes emerged as a pilgrimage site for worshippers from around the world.

She was to die twenty-one years later in 1879 after a prolonged and painful illness. She remained hidden in a convent about 300 miles from home, a refuge from the interrogations and the pilgrims that never ceased seeking her. At thirty-five, her strong-willed manner gave way to her frail body, and she finally entered into her eternal happiness.

The most spectacular of all the incorruptibles, the body of Bernadette is a profound source of inspiration and of mystery surrounding the ways of the Lord. The face of Bernadette is one of surreal beauty, and will remain for us always the face that gazed into the eyes of the Mother of God.

Bernadette’s canonization in 1933 was the culmination of a process which had been started nearly three-quarters of a century earlier: she is, therefore, a saint of modern times, and the remarkable facts of her life are readily accessible to all. Her story even challenges the interest of those who do not share the Catholic faith. Christianity had its beginnings among humble people without influence or riches, such as Bernadette. Perhaps it is a natural human instinct to rejoice when the lowly are lifted up to the heights, and especially when a child, neglected and untaught, is chosen for special grace and favor, thus becoming an instrument for good.

Sources:

http://www.catholicpilgrims.com/lourdes/ba_bernadette_intro.htm
http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/bernlife.htm
http://www.catholicsaintmedals.com/about-st-bernadette.aspx
http://www.prayerrequest.eu/lourdes_prayers

Intercessory Prayers to St. Bernadette

In Lourdes you experienced the joys and trials of family life
You saw Mary eighteen times at the rock
You called the sinners to penance
The priests to edify the Church of God
The pilgrims to come in procession
You reported the name of Mary, the Immaculate Conception,
You desired ardently to receive the Body of the Lord, and to live of it
You knew shame and suspicion, mockery and humiliation
You bore witness to what you saw and believed with such determination
You answered the call of the Lord.
With you Bernadette, we shall go and repeat the Name of the Lady to the World, ‘I am the Immaculate Conception’.
Saint Bernadette, teach us to pray to Mary each day, Mother of God and our Mother: ‘Hail Mary, full of Grace’.

Saint Bernadette, Pray for us.

Prayers by St. Bernadette

O my God, I beg You, by Your loneliness, not that You may spare me affliction, but that You may not abandon me in it. When I encounter affliction, teach me to see You in it as my sole Comforter. Let affliction strengthen my faith, fortify my hope, and purify my love. Grant me the grace to see Your Hand in my affliction, and to desire no other comforter but You.

Amen.