Hikoi of Faith: I am the Immaculate Conception

Late last week I had the pleasure of visiting Lourdes for the first time...

It was for me a hikoi of thanksgiving for graces received but it was also a journey of discovery of the life of St Bernadette Soubirous...

Bernadette was born at Lourdes on 7 January 1844, the daughter of Francois and Louise Soubirous. For most of the first years she lived at the Boly Mill which her father ran

She was baptised at the local church - this is the new much larger church built later...

but here is the original baptismal font she was baptised in on 9 January 1944. Due to an accident she was wet-nursed by an aunt at the nearby village of Batres... which will feature later.

In 1857 the family fell on hard times and had to move into the “Cachot” (literally: the prison) which had been before a prison that became so unhealthy that the prison had been transferred elsewhere. The room was little more than 16 square metres, “a dark and unhealthy room”. In the courtyard outside the window there was manure that made the place smelly and infected. As if this were not enough, another misfortune strikes the family: François was arrested for stealing two bags of flour, He was accused because of his extreme poverty made him suspicious. Even though he was innocent and quickly released the suspicion of the villagers also prevents him from finding work and the family’s life gets tougher. Yet their home was known as a house of prayer and joy.

Bernadette, at this time wanted to make her First Holy Communion. But she had a problem... She only spoke the local dialect and to receive First Holy Communion she had to know her catechism which was taught in French... She went back to her Aunt's in Batres as she promised to teach her French... Instead she more or less used Bernadette as a full time servant girl or for looking after the sheep... Nonetheless Bernadette persevered... The Aunt's house at Batres

The local laundry where the village clothes were washed

The church of St John the Baptist at Batres

Bernadette learning to write at age 13

On the 11th of February 1858 Bernadette was gathering firewood at a nearby grotto when she heard a noise like a gust of wind and, in her words, “I saw a lady dressed in white, she wore a white dress, and equally white veils, a blue belt and a yellow rose on each foot.” Bernadette made the Sign of the Cross and said the Rosary with the lady - apparently the Lady never prayed the Hail Mary but just moved the beads. When the prayer ended the Lady suddenly vanished. Bernadette later described her as being the same size as her - 4 foot 7, and appearing very young as depicted by the later statue below

A few days later a second apparition happened... Bernadette felt an inner force drawing her to the grotto in spite of the fact that she was forbidden to go there by her parents. At her insistence, her mother allowed her; after Bernadette prayed her first decade of the Rosary, she saw the same lady appearing. She sprinkled holy water at her. The lady smiled and bent her head. When the Rosary ended she disappeared.

Some days later the Lady appeared again..For the first time, the Lady spoke... Bernadette held out a pen and paper asking her to write her name. She replied; “It is not necessary” and she added: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world but in the other. Would you be kind enough to come here for a fortnight?”

On Friday the 19th of February Bernadette came to the Grotto with a lighted blessed candle. This is the origin of carrying candles and lighting them in front of the Grotto.

On Saturday the 20th of February the Lady taught her a personal prayer. At the end of the vision Bernadette is overcome with a great sadness.

On the Sunday the 21st of February 1858 the Lady appeared to Bernadette very early in the morning. About one hundred people were present. Afterwards the Police Commissioner, Jacomet, questioned her. He wanted Bernadette to tell what she saw. Bernadette would only speak of “AQUÉRO” (“that thing” in the local dialect).

On Tuesday the 23rd, surrounded by 150 people, the Lady reveals to Bernadette a secret “only for her alone”. In all these events only Bernadette sees the Lady.

On the 24th the Lady says to Bernadette, “Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners. Kiss the ground as an act of penance for sinners!”

By now, news was spreading. On the 25th 300 people were present. Bernadette relates; “She told me to go, drink of the spring (….) I only found a little muddy water. At the fourth attempt I was able to drink. She also made me eat the bitter herbs that were found near the spring, and then the vision left and went away.” In front of the crowd that was asking “Do you think that she is mad doing things like that?” she replied; “It is for sinners.”

On Saturday the 27th 800 people were present. The Lady was silent. Bernadette drank the water from the spring and carried out her usual acts of penance. By now the water had become clear...

The following day on the 28th over 1000 people were present. Bernadette prayed, kissed the ground and moved on her knees as a sign of penance. She was then taken to the house of Judge Ribes who threatened to put her in prison.

On the 1st of March 1500 people assembled and among them, for the first time, a priest. In the night, Catherine Latapie, a woman from Loubajac, 7 kilometres away , went to the Grotto, she plunged her dislocated arm into the water of the spring: her arm and her hand regained its movement.

On the 2nd of March the crowds had becomes larger and larger. The Lady asked her: “Go and tell the priests that people are to come here in procession and to build a chapel here.” Bernadette spoke of this to Fr. Peyramale, the Parish Priest of Lourdes. He wanted to know only one thing: the Lady’s name. He demanded another test; to see the wild rose bush flower at the Grotto in the middle of winter.

On the 3rd of March, at 7 o’clock in the morning, in the presence of three thousand people, Bernadette arrived at the Grotto, but the vision did not appear! After school, she heard the inner invitation of the Lady. She went to the Grotto and asked her again for her name. The response was a smile. The Parish Priest told her again: “If the Lady really wishes that a chapel be built, then she must tell us her name and make the rose bush bloom at the Grotto.”

The following day, an even greater crowd (about eight thousand people) waited for a miracle at the end of the fortnight. The vision was silent. Fr. Peyramale stuck to his position. For twenty days Bernadette did not go to the Grotto, she no longer felt the irresistible invitation.

Local media coverage

On the 25th of March 1858 the Lady finally revealed her name, but the wild rose bush, on which she stood during the Apparitions, did not bloom. Bernadette recounted : “She extended her arms towards the ground, then joined them as though in prayer and said Que soy era Immaculada Concepciou (I am the Immaculate Conception)”. The young visionary left and, running all the way, repeated continuously the words that she did not understand. These words troubled the brave Parish Priest. Bernadette was ignorant of the fact that this theological expression was assigned to the Blessed Virgin. Four years earlier, in 1854, Pope Pius IX declared this a truth of the Catholic Faith (a dogma). It is a statement of the Church’s belief that Mary, in the first instance of Mary’s conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of what Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was to achieve in the future. was preserved free from all stain of original sin. This teaching is most importantly about Jesus, who St Paul calls the “second Adam.” As the first Adam was created by God from the dust of a virgin earth, an earth untouched by sin, So too the new Adam, Jesus, had to be free from all sin. And so, when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary, she was greeted with the words that she was highly favoured, or as we pray, full of grace.

On the 7th of April 1858 Bernadette was struggling to keep her candle alight. The flame licked along her hand without burning it. A medical doctor and agnostic, Dr. Douzous, immediately witnessed this fact and examined her hand.

The final apparition was on the 16th of July 1858. Bernadette received the mysterious call to the Grotto, but her way was blocked and closed off by a barrier. She thus arrived across from the Grotto to the other side of the Gave. “I felt that I was in front of the Grotto, at the same distance as before, I saw only the Blessed Virgin, and she was more beautiful than ever!”