The memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes commemorates the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old French girl. These began on 11 February 1858, when Bernadette, gathering firewood near the Grotto of Massabielle, saw a beautiful girl dressed in a white robe with a blue ribbon at her waist. She wore a white veil, had bare feet covered by her robe's folds, and two yellow roses on her feet. In her right arm, she held a rosary of white beads with a shining gold chain.
Bernadette knelt and began to pray the rosary. At the end of the five decades, our Lady smiled and disappeared. Our Lady told young Bernadette, "I do not promise to make you happy in this life but in the next." On 24 February, the Virgin Mary spoke to Bernadette to pray for the conversion of sinners, specifically, "Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners. Go, kiss the ground for the conversion of sinners." The following day, she instructed Bernadette to dig the ground near the grotto. From that, a spring came forth, which to this day is used for the bath by pilgrims to Lourdes. At the apparition of 2 March, Bernadette was instructed by Our Lady to "tell the priests that people should come here in procession and that a chapel should be built on the site."
Tradition recounts that when Bernadette asked the Lady for her name, she replied, "I am the Immaculate Conception," on the Feast of the Annunciation, 25 March. This affirmed the dogma defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854. The Basilica was consecrated in 1876, attracting countless pilgrims to the holy grotto. The miraculous spring has reportedly healed millions, and Our Lady of Lourdes is honored as the health of the sick, refuge of sinners, and comforter of the afflicted.
O Brilliant star of purity, Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, show unto us the mercy of the Mother of God; be our comfort, hope, strength, and consolation. Amen.
Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love
(Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love
(Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)
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