The First Meeting

Accompanied by her sister and a friend, Bernadette went to Massabielle on the banks of the Gave to collect bones and dead wood. Removing her socks in order to cross the stream, she heard a noise like a gust of wind, she looked up towards the Grotto : “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. When the prayer ended the Lady suddenly vanished.

“With thanks to Josephine Simon for the use of her illustrations”

Holy Water

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 the 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.

The Lady Speaks

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?”

The First Candle

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.

In Silence

The Lady taught her a personal prayer. At the end of the vision Bernadette was overcome with a great sadness.

“Aquero”

The Lady appeared to Bernadette very early that morning with about 100 people present. Afterwards the Police Commissioner, a man called Jacomet, questioned her. He wanted Bernadette to tell him what she saw but she would only speak of ‘AQUÉRO’ (‘that thing’ in local dialect)

The Secret

Surrounded by 150 people, Bernadette arrived at the Grotto. The Apparition revealed to her a secret “for her alone”.

Penance

The message of the Lady was: “Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners. Kiss the ground as an act of penance for sinners!”

The Spring

Three hundred people were present on this occasion. Bernadette recounted; “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.” The crowd questioned Bernadette’s behaviour but she replied; “It is for sinners.”

Silence

Eight hundred people were present at the Grotto. The Apparition was silent. Bernadette drank water from the spring and carried out her usual acts of penance.

The Ecstasy

Over one thousand people were present at the ecstasy. Bernadette prayed, kissed the ground, and moved on her knees as a sign of penance. Afterwards she was taken to the house of Judge Ribes who threatened to put her in prison.

The First Miracle

Over 1,500 people assembled, among them, for the first time, was a priest. During the night, Catherine Latapie, a woman from Loubajac, a place about 7 kilometres away, had visited the Grotto. On plunging her dislocated arm into the water of the spring her arm and hand regained movement.

A Message To The Priests

The crowds became larger and larger. The Lady said: “Go and tell the priests that people are to come here in procession and to build a chapel here.” Bernadette relayed 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.

A Smile

Bernadette arrived at the Grotto at 7am in the morning, in the presence of 3,000 people, 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. Speaking to Bernadette, Fr Peyramale said: “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 Day All Were Waiting For

About 8,000 people had gathered, waiting for a miracle, but the vision was silent. For twenty days Bernadette did not go to the Grotto and did not feel the irresistible invitation.

The Name They Waited For

The vision 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”. Bernadette left and, running all the way, repeated continuously these words that she did not understand. The words troubled Fr Peyramale. Four years earlier, in 1854, Pope Pius IX had declared this a truth of the Catholic Faith (called a dogma).

The Miracle Of The Candle

During this apparition, Bernadette had to keep her candle alight. The flame licked along her hand without burning it, an events witnessed by a medical doctor, Dr Douzous.

The Final Apparition

Bernadette received the mysterious call to the Grotto, but her way was blocked and closed off by a barrier. She arrived across from the Grotto at 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!”