He recalled her calmness, her good sense, the absence in her of any exaltation and also the fact that the Apparitions did not depend on Bernadette. They happened without Bernadette expecting them, and in the fortnight, twice, when Bernadette went to the Grotto, the Lady was not there. Bernadette had to respond to the curious, to admirers, journalists and others, to appear before civil and religious commissions.
She needed patience and humour to stand firm in this storm and to preserve the purity of her testimony. She accepted no payment. In these circumstances, life in the Cachot was no longer possible. It was necessary to protect Bernadette. She arrived there on 15th July, At 16, she learned to read and write. One can still see today, at the Bartres Church, the writing practice strokes she made. Later, she wrote often to her family and even to the Pope!
She looked after the sick, but above all she was seeking her vocation: good for nothing and without a dowry, how was she to become a religious? In Nevers, she became Sister Marie Bernard, who would be saint. One often hears about the severity of her superiors towards her, but it has to be understood that she was a unique case: she had to be shielded from curiosity, to be protected, and the community also had to be protected.
Bernadette gave her account of the Apparitions before the assembled community on the day after she arrived; thereafter it was not to be spoken of.
She was kept in the Mother House where she loved to care for the sick. She remained faithful to this. A dazzling light and white figure emerged from the alcove behind the niche. Three days later, Bernadette returned to the grotto with another sister and friends. She saw the vision again, knelt down and fell into a trance. Again, the other girls did not see the apparition. She returned to the grotto again on February This time the vision asked her to return to the grotto each day for a fortnight two weeks.
As people learned about the visions Bernadette was having, her parents tried to keep her from going to the grotto because they were embarrassed.
Some believed her and others thought she must have a mental illness and should be put into an asylum. No matter what others thought, Bernadette was determined to go to the grotto. Almost the entire time the visions 18 in total occurred, Bernadette never identified the apparition as the Virgin Mary.
The description she gave was much like that of statues of Mary in churches in the area: a woman wearing a white veil, a blue girdle and with a yellow rose on each foot. Bernadette did as the woman asked her, and the next day the water of the grotto that was once muddy was now flowing, clear water. It would later become the place at Lourdes where millions of pilgrims pray and drink from the miraculous water to obtain healing.
She asked for a small chapel to be built for her on the site and a procession to be formed. Mary focused her message to Bernadette on the need for prayer and penance. The Church investigated the visions and confirmed their authenticity in Many pilgrims traveling from around the world found healing and peace at Lourdes, and 69 cures have been verified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau.
At this point her fame began to grow. Bernadette was bombarded by journalists, admirers, and even people trying to bribe her. She appeared multiple times in front of civil and religious commissions to tell her story. She held firm in her recounting of the visions, never accepted payment for anything offered, and refused to bless items such as rosaries handed to her by others. The attention never changed her. Bernadette did face some serious obstacles to being admitted to a religious order to become a nun.
As Andre Ravier, SJ, noted in his book Bernadette, those obstacles included her notoriety, poor health, lack of education, and poverty. However, after a meeting with the Bishop of Nevers, Bernadette was allowed to enter the Sisters of Nevers. In July of , Bernadette received the religious habit with 43 other postulants, and joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. She became known as Sister Marie-Bernarde.
Shortly thereafter, she became very ill, but slowly recovered. In October of , she made her religious profession in the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers with the other postulants.
From July of to April of , Bernadette lived at the convent of Saint-Gildard, and suffered from periodic bouts of poor health. Ravier noted that she received "Extreme Unction" last rites several times. The Catholic Online website stated that "in the convent, she would beg the nuns to tear open her chest that she might breathe. As Keyes noted in her book, people would come to the convent, wanting to see the Bernadette who had the visions of the Virgin Mary.
She in turn would pretend to be someone else, offer to find Sister Marie-Bernarde for the person, and slip away.
Although Bernadette suffered from poor health, it appears she was content with her life as a nun. She was a caregiver to the ill and enjoyed her private times of prayer.
Ravier noted the she was prone to "sudden outbursts of good spirits," and was "very active, stubborn, and opinionated. Despite this, the novice-mistress considered Bernadette to be "modest, pious, devout, and orderly. As noted on the Online Anglican resources website, Bernadette was encouraged by many to go to Lourdes to be healed.
She refused, stating the healings "were for others, not for her, and that her business was to bear her illness. She died on April 16, in Nevers, France. According to the Lourdes France official website, long after her death, Bernadette's body was exhumed three times, in , , and then in Since August of , Bernadette's totally preserved the doctor's consider her body to be "mummified" body has been in a Shrine in the Chapel of the Convent of St. Gildard, in Nevers, France.
She was beatified declared "Blessed" in Her feast day is April Ten years after sainthood, she was the subject of the Academy Award-winning song, "Song of Bernadette. In writing the introduction in Ravier's book, Patrick O'Donovan, wrote of Bernadette, "She may have been an inelegant and muddy peasant girl with a quarrelsome family; she became by training, suffering, and conscious acceptance, one of the greatest ladies in the hierarchy of history and heaven.
Lourdes is one of the most popular destinations for Catholics around the world, as well as for those seeking cures for their illnesses. In the mids, it was drawing four million visitors per year.
As noted on the Lourdes France official website, visitors can see a plaque that marks the exact spot where Bernadette stood. It reads "here Bernadette prayed on 11 February All rights reserved. Visions of the "Lady" It was the evening of February 11,
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