Saint Bernadette
Feast day: April 16
Saint Bernadette, a poor girl of Lourdes who saw Mary in 1858, later a humble religious sister (16/04)
Who is she?
Saint Bernadette Soubirous (1844–1879) was the girl who saw Mary at Lourdes, in the south of France. The story of the apparitions is told on the Our Lady of Lourdes card. This card tells the story of Bernadette herself: a poor girl, with little schooling and often sick, but with a simple and honest heart.
Life story
Bernadette was born on 7 January 1844, the eldest child of a family of millers. When the business failed, the whole family had to live in one dark, damp room that had once been a prison cell. Bernadette had asthma from childhood, could not yet read or write, and was studying her catechism to make her First Communion.
On 11 February 1858, while gathering firewood near the grotto of Massabielle, she saw Mary for the first time. In the months that followed, many people did not believe her. Some mocked her, and officials questioned and threatened her. Bernadette did not add or leave out anything. She simply told what she had seen and heard. A saying often attributed to her is that her job was to tell, not to make people believe.
In 1866, Bernadette entered the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, taking the name Marie-Bernard. She did not want anyone to pay attention to her. She compared herself to a broom that Mary had used to sweep away dust; when the sweeping is done, the broom is put back behind the door. She worked in the infirmary, and then she herself suffered a serious illness for many years. She quietly offered all her pain to God and prayed for sinners. On 16 April 1879, she died while praying the Rosary, only 35 years old.
Why is she a saint?
The Church declared her a saint not because she saw Mary, but because she lived a holy life: humble, obedient, truthful and patient in suffering. In 1933, Pope Pius XI declared her a saint. Her body now rests in the chapel at Nevers.
A lesson for you
- Always tell the truth, even when people don’t believe you.
- Jesus says the Father reveals wonderful things to the little ones (cf. Mt 11:25). Don’t worry that you are small or not very good at things yet.
- When you are sick or something sad happens, offer it to God as Bernadette did.
Identifying marks
- A white hooded shawl over her head (capulet): the woolen shawl worn by poor girls of the Pyrenees mountains, which Bernadette wore when she went to gather firewood.
- A dark skirt and a gray apron: the simple clothes of a girl from a very poor family.
- A wooden Rosary, hands joined: she prayed the Rosary when she saw Mary; Mary quietly passed the beads through her fingers, without moving her lips.
- Eyes raised: she looks toward the hollow in the rock where Mary appeared.
- A grotto with candles, wild roses and running water: the grotto of Massabielle by the river at Lourdes.
The text on this page is the saint card in the Catholic Information app, word for word.
Collect this card and read more about the saints in the app