Bernadette Soubirous' life.

Authors Avatar

Bernadette Soubirous was born on Monday January 7th 1844, the first child of Francois and Louise. She was baptised in the parish church of Lourdes. When Bernadette was only a few months old, her mother had an accident and could not nurse her. So Bernadette went to live with her foster mother in Bartres. She had six brothers and two sisters, five of the brothers died before they were ten.

Her father was a miller. He ran the Boly Mill, but tended to give the product away to the poor instead of selling it, eventually the family were reduced to poverty and had to move into a one room abandoned jail.
Bernadette nearly died of cholera when she was ten. When she was thirteen her parents sent her back to Bartres. Shortly after her fourteenth birthday, Bernadette returned to Lourdes and began to prepare for her First Holy Communion. Bernadette still could not read or write and didn't even speak French.
It was on February 11th 1858 that Bernadette and her two sisters were out gathering firewood, Bernadette was left behind as her sisters crossed a small stream. She heard a sound like a storm and looking across the stream she saw the vision for the first time in a grotto at the foot of rock called Massabielle. She saw a lady dressed in white with a blue sash and a yellow rose on each foot. The lady did not speak, but made the sign of the cross. The vision disappeared suddenly.

Join now!

The lady did not speak until the third time she appeared to Bernadette. She asked Bernadette if she would like to meet her there every day for a fortnight, Bernadette said she would. She told Bernadette to tell the priests to have a chapel built there. Then she told her to drink at the spring. Not seeing one, she went to drink from the stream. The lady told Bernadette that the stream wasn't there, but pointed to a pool of muddy water. Bernadette scraped at the muddy ground and eventually fresh water appeared. She drank some and the vision disappeared. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay