Saint Bernadette Soubirous was born to poor peasants in France in 1844. She was a weak child and suffered from asthma.
When Saint Bernadette was 14 years old, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her at a grotto in Lourdes, France. Mary was wearing blue and white and blessed Saint Bernadette with an ivory and gold rosary. Our Lady told Saint Bernadette to come back every day for fourteen days. Saint Bernadette’s parents were embarrassed, and many people did not believe that she was seeing Our Lady. But on the seventh day, Mary told Bernadette to dig a small spring. On the thirteenth day, Mary told Saint Bernadette to have a church built near the spot where she stood. On the sixteenth day, Saint Bernadette asked Our Lady for her name. Mary said, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
The spring that Saint Bernadette dug has been the sight of many miraculous cures. Near the spot where Mary appeared there is a magnificent basilica and millions of people visit every year.
Saint Bernadette later joined the Sisters of Charity. She contracted tuberculosis, and was praying the rosary when she died at the age of 35. Saint Bernadette is the patron saint of illness, people ridiculed for their piety, the poor, shepherds, and Lourdes, France. Saint Bernadette told the truth about the visions even when her own parents doubted her. Let us ask her to help us to be always truthful and to keep us close to Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception.