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Tuesday was the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
On February 11, 1858,
Bernadette Soubirous, a poor 14 year old, was out with her sisters gathering wood to sell for food.
Mary appeared to her. Mary was in a grotto near Lourdes France. Bernadette's sisters could not
see Mary. Mary was young and held a Rosary of ivory and gold in her hand.
Mary told Bernadette to pray for sinners, do penance, and have a chapel built in her honor. When Bernadette asked Mary her name, Mary replied, "I am the Immaculate Conception." Mary told Bernadette to dig in the mud. When she did, a spring welled up. Many cures have been attributed to the water that flows from this spring. Pilgrims bath in it. Bernadette said that the Virgin did not promise to make her happy in this world but in the next. Bernadette suffered from asthma, tuberculosis, and bone cancer. She entered the nuns of Saint-Gildard. She was 35 when she died. Mary appeared to her a total of 18 times. Each year millions of people make a pilgrimage to Lourdes. Many are cured. 7000 people have submitted their cures to the independent Medical Board for confirmation. Sixty-eight cures have been declared scientifically inexplicable. In 1907 Pope Pius X introduced the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Bernadette was canonized on December 8, 1933. Her feast day is April16.
Saint Bernadette, Pray for us.
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