1858 ഫെബ്രുവരി 11 വ്യാഴാഴ്ച, ഫ്രാൻസിലെ ലൂർദ്ദു ഗ്രാമത്തിലെ, ഒരു ദരിദ്രകുടുംബത്തിൽ ജനിച്ചു വളർന്ന അക്ഷരാഭ്യാസമില്ലാത്ത പതിനാലുവയസ്സുകാരി ബെർണദീത്തായും അനുജത്തി ട്വാനെത്തും ഒരുകൂട്ടുകാരിയുംകൂടി വിറകു ശേഖരിക്കുന്നതിനായി മസബിയേൻ എന്ന വനത്തിലേക്കു പോയി.
മാർഗ്ഗമദ്ധ്യേയുണ്ടായിരുന്ന ഒരു കൊച്ചരുവി കടക്കുന്നതിനു രോഗിയായ ബെർണദീത്തയ്ക്കു സാധ്യമല്ലാതിരുന്നതിനാൽ ഇക്കരെത്തന്നെ നിന്നു. അപ്പോൾ ഒരു കാറ്റുവീശി. അടുത്തുള്ള ഗ്രോട്ടോയിലേക്ക് ചില വൃക്ഷങ്ങളുടെ ശാഖകൾ അവളെ മാടിവിളിക്കുന്നതുപ്പോലെ തോന്നി. കണ്ണഞ്ചിക്കുന്ന വെള്ളവസ്ത്രവും നീലനിറത്തിലുള്ള അരക്കെട്ടും തത്തുല്യമായ ഒരു ശിരോവസ്ത്രവുംധരിച്ചു്, ഒരു സ്വർണ്ണജപമാല കൈയിലേന്തി, ഒരു യുവതി ആ ഗ്രോട്ടോയിൽ നിൽക്കുന്നതു കണ്ടു. സ്വർണ്ണദീപ്തിയോടുകൂടിയൊരു പ്രകാശം ആ യുവതിയുടെ പാദത്തിന്റെ താഴെയുണ്ടായിരുന്നു. ബെർണദീത്തയും ആ യുവതിയുമൊരുമിച്ചു ജപമാല ചൊല്ലി. ത്രിത്വസ്തുതി മാത്രമേ ആ യുവതി ചൊല്ലിയിരുന്നുള്ളൂ. ജപമാലയുടെ അന്ത്യത്തിൽ പുഞ്ചിരിച്ചുകൊണ്ട് അല്പമൊന്നു കുനിഞ്ഞു് അവൾ തിരോധാനം ചെയ്തു.
പതിനൊന്നു തവണ ഇത്തരത്തിൽ മാതാവു പ്രത്യക്ഷപ്പെട്ടു.
ഒമ്പതാമത്ത ദർശനത്തിൽ ഫെബ്രുവരി 25നു് ആ യുവതി പറഞ്ഞു “നീ ആ ഉറവയിൽ നിന്നും കുടിക്കുക, ദേഹം കഴുകുക, അവിടെ കാണുന്ന സസ്യങ്ങൾ ഭക്ഷിക്കുക”. അവിടെ ഇവയൊന്നും കാണാതിരുന്നതിനാൽ അവൾ അടുത്തുള്ള ഗേവു നദിയുടെയടുത്തേക്കുപോയി. ഉടനെ ആ സ്ത്രീ അവളെ വിളിച്ചു സ്ഥലം ചൂണ്ടികാണിച്ചു. ബെർണദീത്ത ആ സ്ഥലത്ത് ഇളക്കിനോക്കി. ഉടൻ അവിടെ നിന്നൊരുറവ പുറപ്പെട്ടു. ആ സ്ത്രീ പറഞ്ഞതുപോലെ അവൾ ചെയ്തു. നാലുദിവസങ്ങൾക്കുശേഷം, ളൂയിബൂറിയറ്റ് എന്ന അന്ധനായ കല്ലുവെട്ടുകാരൻ ആ ഉറവയിൽ മുഖം കഴുകാനെത്തുകയും, ഉറവയിലെ ജലം കണ്ണിൽ തളിച്ചപ്പോൾ അദ്ദേഹത്തിനു കാഴ്ച ലഭിക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു. ദിനംപ്രതി ആ ഉറവയിൽ നിന്നും 2,000 ഗ്യാലൻ വെള്ളം വന്നുകൊണ്ടിരുന്നു. 1858 മാർച്ച് 25നു മംഗലവാർത്താതിരുന്നാൾ ദിവസം ബെർണദീത്തയ്ക്കു കാണപ്പെട്ടുകൊണ്ടിരുന്ന യുവതി, ‘അമലോത്ഭവ’ എന്നാണു തന്റെ പേരെന്നു വെളിപ്പെടുത്തി. ജൂലൈ 16നായിരുന്നു അവസാന ദർശനം.
ലോകത്തിൽ പ്രശസ്തമായ മരിയൻ തീർത്ഥാടനകേന്ദ്രങ്ങളിൽ ഒന്നാം സ്ഥാനം ലൂർദ്ദിനാണു്. ദിവസംതോറും അവിടെ ദിവ്യകാരുണ്യ പ്രദക്ഷിണവും ജപമാല പ്രദക്ഷിണവും നടത്തുന്നുണ്ടു്. തിരുന്നാൾ ദിവസങ്ങളിൽ ഇവിടെ അനേകം രോഗശാന്തികൾ നടക്കുന്നതായി രേഖപ്പെടുത്തിയിട്ടുണ്ട്.
The apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes began on 11 February 1858, when Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl from Lourdes admitted, when questioned by her mother, that she had seen a “lady” in the cave of Massabielle, about a mile from the town, while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend.[1] Similar appearances of the “lady” took place on seventeen further occasions that year.
Bernadette Soubirous was canonized as a saint, and many Catholics believe her visions to have been of the Virgin Mary. The first appearance of the “Lady” reported by Bernadette was on 11 February. Pope Pius IX authorized the local bishop to permit the veneration of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes in 1862.
On 11 February 1858, Bernadette Soubirous went with Toinette and Jeanne Abadie to collect some firewood and bones in order to be able to buy some bread. When she took off her shoes to wade through the water near the Grotto of Massabielle, she heard two wind noises (coups de vent) but the trees and bushes nearby did not move. She saw a light in the grotto and a little girl, as small as she was, dressed all in white, apart from the blue belt fastened around her waist and the golden yellow roses, one on each foot, the colour of her rosary. Bernadette tried to keep this a secret to herself, but after parental cross-examination, she and her sister underwent corporal punishment for this unusual story. [2] Three days later, Bernadette returned to the Grotto with the two other girls, who reportedly became afraid when they saw her in ecstasy. Bernadette remained ecstatic when they returned to the village. On 18 February, she was told by the Lady to return to the Grotto over a period of two weeks. The Lady allegedly said: I promise to make you happy not in this world but in the next. [3] After this created local interest, the police and city authorities got involved. Bernadette was prohibited by her parents and the police to ever go there again, but she went anyway. On 25 February, she was asked to drink from the water, which at first was rather muddy, but became increasingly clean. As the word spread, this water was given to medical patients of all kinds, after which numerous miracle cures were reported. Seven of them were confirmed as lacking any medical explanations by Professor Verges in 1860. The first person with a “certified miracle” was a woman, whose right hand had been deformed as a consequence of an accident. Several miracles turned out to be short-term improvements or even hoaxes, one reason why Church and government officials became increasingly concerned. [4] The government barricaded the Grotto and issued stiff penalties for anybody trying to get near the off-limits area. In the process, Lourdes became a national issue in France, resulting in the intervention of emperor Napoleon III to reopen the grotto on 4 October 1858. The Church had decided to stay away from the controversy altogether.
Bernadette, knowing the localities rather well, managed to visit the barricaded grotto under the protection of darkness at night time. There, on March 25, she was told: I am the Immaculate Conception. On Easter Sunday, 7 April, her examining doctor stated that Bernadette, in ecstasy, was holding her hands over a candle without receiving any burns. [5] On 16 July, Bernadette went a last time to the Grotto. I have never seen her so beautiful before. [6] The Church, which so far was highly critical during the whole process, faced with nation-wide questions, decided to institute an investigative commission on 17 November 1858. On 18 January 1860, the local bishop declared: The Virgin Mary did appear indeed to Bernadette Soubirous. [7] This was the basis for the Marian veneration in Lourdes, which together with Fatima, is one of the most frequented Marian shrines in the world, to which 4-6 million pilgrims travel annually. The apparitions of Lourdes are not articles of faith for Catholics. Nevetheless all recent Popes visited the Marian shine. Benedict XV, Pius XI, and John XXIII went there as bishops, Pius XII as papal delegate. He also issued with Le Pelerinage de Lourdes a Lourdes encyclical on the 100th anniversary of the apparitions in 1958. John Paul II visited Lourdes three times and Pope Benedict XVI completed a visit there on 15 September 2008 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the apparitions in 1858.
The marriage of Francois Soubirous and Louise Casterot produced six children. The eldest of these was Bernadette.
She was born of 7th January 1844 and was baptized the next day by the Abbe Forgues in the old parish church, being given the name Marie Bernarde. Because of her small stature, she was always referred to by the diminutive form of the name, Bernadette.
Six months later, Louise was again expexting a child; because of this, Bernadette was entrusted to the care of a woman in near-by Bartres, Marie Aravant, who had just lost a baby boy. She stayed there for fifteen months.
From her birth, Bernadette was a weak child, suffering even then from the asthma which would cause her so much suffering that later, in the convent, she would beg the nuns to tear open her chest that she might breathe. Because of her delicate constitution, her parents would endeavour to give her little morsels of food not available to the other children, such as white bread instead of black. Invariably, the young girl would share these treats with her siblings – often missing out herself on the sumptuous feast.
When she was ten, Bernadette was again separated from her beloved family; the winter of 1855 was exceptionally cold and there was little work for the poor miller. Louise’s sister, Bernarde, offered to take Bernadette for a while to relieve the pressure on the family and to minimise the effects of the cold on Bernadettes’ health. She stayed with her aunt Bernarde for seven months, until the weather improved sufficiently and there was more work available for Francois, enabling him to feed his family properly.
Bernadette left Lourdes one more time – in summer of 1857, she returned to stay with Marie Aravant for a few months, working for her as a shephardesst. There was also a great affection between the two. Bernadette celebrated her fourteenth birthday here in Bartres, but still there had been no mention of her making her First Holy Communion; Marie Aravant tried to teach Bernadette about the Faith – but described her as being thick-headed;
“It was useless to for me to repeat my lessons; I always had to begin again. Sometimes I was overcome by impatience and I would throw my book aside and say to her, ‘Go along, you will never be anything but a little fool'”.
Marie asked the priest for advice – he said Bernadette should return to Lourdes to begin her Catechism classes. And so, in the early days of 1858, Bernadette returned to the Rue des Petits Fosses.
And return, she did.
She visited a local grotto,
The Apparitions to Bernadette
Later in life she became a Sister of Charity of Nevers, and was besieged by many faithful and religious.
Bernadette (in religion, Sister Marie-Bernarde) spent the latter part of her life at the convent, saying that she had come to hide herself. She sought God in the silence of the cloister, serving Him in humility and under the vows of her profession as a Sister of Charity of Nevers. She lived in the convent for thirteen years, spending a large portion of this time ill in the infirmary – when a fellow sister accused her of being a ‘lazybones’, she said that her ‘job’ was “to be ill”.
Bernadette died on 16th April 1879.
The Lady of Lourdes had kept the promise She made to Bernadette in 1858 – “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next”.
Although the apparitions of Our Lady at Lourdes were over for Bernadette (at least in this life), their message and mission were never to be forgotten. Bernadette silently offered all of her sufferings, internal and external, for the benefit of “poor sinners”.
on 8 December 1933, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Bernadette was declared a Saint by Pope Pius XI. Present for this ceremony were the Reverend Mother General and one hundred and sixty of the Sisters of Nevers, Bernadette’s sister in law, and two of her nephews. With them, there were ten thousand French pilgrims. In all, the crowd exceeded forty thousand. Bishop Patrice Flynn, the Irish Bishop of Nevers, and Bishop Gerlier of Lourdes and Tarbes, were also present.
The Holy Father addressed the assembled multitude:
“To the honour of the Most Holy and Indivisible Trinity, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith and for the spread of the Christian religion, by the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and by Our own, after mature deliberation and having often implored the Divine Assistance, on the advice of our venerable brethren the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, the Patriarchs, Archbishops and Bishops, We define and declare the Blessed Marie Bernarde Soubirous a Saint, and We enrol her in the Catalogue of Saints, ordaining that her memory shall be piously celebrated in the Universal Church on April 16th each year, the day of her birth in Heaven. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The body of Saint Bernadette remains in the main chapel of the Convent of Saint Gildard in the city of Nevers, France. To this day, she remains entirely incorrupt. Less than four feet away, a constant stream of pilgrims kneel, seeking her powerful assistance in Heaven. At her shrine, flowers and candles keep the little one company.
Around her shrine are inscribed the words of the great promise made to her at Lourdes by the Most Blessed Virgin, and fulfilled by Her:
“I do not promise that you will be happy in this world, only in the next.”
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee. Amen
Our Lady of Lourdes, the comfort of the afflicted, health of the sick, pls pray for us and heal us. Amen
Our Lady of Lourdes