Saint Bernadette Soubirous

Life story

Bernadette Soubirous was born on 7 January 1844 at Lourdes, in the Pyrenees, the eldest child of a miller's family. As her parents' fortunes failed, the family ended up living in a single room in a former jail known as the cachot. Bernadette suffered from asthma, could not read or write, spoke only the local dialect and had not yet completed her catechism when the events began.

Between 11 February and 16 July 1858 she reported seeing a lady eighteen times at the grotto of Massabielle beside the river Gave. She described the figure as a young woman in white with a blue sash, and she also spoke of scraping the ground to find a spring. Civil and church authorities questioned her repeatedly. A commission of the diocese of Tarbes investigated, and in 1862 the bishop formally recognised the apparitions as worthy of belief.

Bernadette did not remain to receive the growing crowds of pilgrims. In 1866 she joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers and lived at their mother house in Nevers for the rest of her life, working in the infirmary and later as a sacristan. She was often ill, with tuberculosis of the bone and other ailments, and died on 16 April 1879 at the age of thirty-five.

Bernadette was beatified in 1925 and canonised on 8 December 1933. The grotto of Massabielle is now the sanctuary of Lourdes, one of the most visited pilgrimage places in Europe.

Works and witness

• Reported eighteen apparitions at Massabielle between February and July 1858
• Was questioned many times by the authorities during 1858
• Joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers in 1866 and worked in the infirmary
• Canonised on 8 December 1933

Patron of

The sick (Lourdes)

Saints from the same country

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Joan of Arc, Saint Francis de Sales

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Procès-verbaux of the diocesan commission of Tarbes (1858-1862)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.