Pilgrimage to France, St Bernadette Soubirous, Nevers, France - April 2024

Описание: Frail in health, Bernadette was the eldest of nine children from a poverty-stricken family; her father was a miller. She contracted cholera in the epidemic of 1854 and suffered from asthma and other ailments throughout her life. Between February 11 and July 16, 1858, at the age of 14, she had a series of visions of the Virgin Mary in the Massabielle Grotto in Lourdes. Mary revealed her identity with the words “I am the Immaculate Conception” and, among other messages and affirmations, told Bernadette that a chapel should be built there. Bernadette steadfastly defended the genuineness of these visions despite strong opposition from her parents, the local clergy, and civil authorities, and she faithfully transmitted Mary’s messages.

To escape public attention, she became a boarder in the local school run by the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. In 1866 she was granted admission into the novitiate in the motherhouse at Nevers. There she completed her religious instruction and passed her remaining years in prayer and seclusion, happy and loved for her kindliness, holiness, and wit, despite almost constant sickness and pain. She died in agony, willingly accepting her great sufferings in faithful fulfillment of her “Lady’s” request for penance.

Saint Bernadette was beatified on June 14, 1925 and canonized on December 8, 1933, each by by Pope Pius XI. She is the patroness of illness, people ridiculed for their piety, poverty, shepherds, shepherdesses, and Lourdes, France.

People often pray to St. Bernadette for intercession, seeking her help in their own struggles, especially those related to healing, poverty, or ridicule. They may also pray to her for graces, particularly those that reflect her own virtues of humility, obedience, and compassion.