Thoughts on Saint Bernadette

St. Bernadette is the patron saint of sick people, poverty, the family and of Lourdes.
The year 2008 marks the 150th anniversary of the first apparition of "Our Lady" to young Bernadette, our Lady of Lourdes-Bernadette Soubirous, Saint of France.
Saints are those servants of God whose holiness of life and the practice of virtue in a heroic degree have been officially recognized by the Church, through beatification and canonization and to whom public veneration has been decreed. The Roman Catholic Church canonized St. Bernadette as a saint on December 8, 1933. Her feast day is celebrated on April 16.

St. Bernadette was a visionary and a messenger of the Immaculate Conception.
From February 11 - April 16, 1879 she had 18 apparitions of the Immaculate Conception at the grotto of Massabielle outside Lourdes. She was only 14 years old when she had her first apparition. It was of a small young lady standing in a niche in the rock wearing a white veil, a blue girdle, and a golden rose on each foot and holding a string of Rosary beads. During Bernadette's apparitions she mostly got messages and requests of prayers and penance, but on the 13th apparition, she got a request to tell the priests to build a chapel at the apparition site. Accompanied by two of her aunts she delivered the request to Father Dominique Peyramale, a man with little belief in visions and miracles at the time.

One day a miraculous event occurred that stunned the crowd that was watching these apparitions that could only be seen by Bernadette. Bernadette was told during an apparition to dig into the muddy ground at the base of the grotto. She did so and from digging with her fingers into the muddy ground, clean, clear waters sprung from the spot that she dug. This event somewhat convinced the people that they saw something unusual. So far it is said that this water has miraculously cured 67 people ailments over the years.

Bernadette died of a long term illness on April 16, 1879 at the age of 35. The miracle of her life lingers on as her perfectly preserved body which was exhumed on three occasions, September 2, 1909, April 1919 and in 1925 showed no signs of deterioration. Her remains are kept in a gold and glass reliquary in the Chapel of St. Bernadette at the mother house in "Nevers". Many pilgrims visit the site to see the body of St. Bernadette. Her body has remained intact throughout more than 100 years.

Thoughts on St. Bernadette.
Life itself is a mystery, we know not where we came from, why we are here and to where we will go from here. St. Bernadette's life and apparitional experiences and the preservation of her body throughout the years are also mysteries, yet, it is as real as our arrival and existence here. These apparitions were timely; it was a time for renewal, a time for prayers, penance and expansion of the Catholic Church. Many churches were built at Lourdes during that time. Commercially, this period has also significantly helped Lourdes. It is said that only in Paris are there more hotels in France than at Lourdes. This is in order to accommodate the more than 5,000,000 pilgrims who visit Lourdes every year from all over the world.

For every thing there is a time and a season. That was the time and the season for Bernadette's apparitions, the messages, the actions that were taken and the results that live on today. That was the time and season for the beginning of sainthood for St. Bernadette. The preservation of her body is a sign of her sainthood, her holiness of life and the practice of virtue that has been officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church.
Remember to honor and celebrate her on her feast day on April 16th.