Bernadette Soubirous

Saint Bernadette Soubirous
Saint Bernadette Soubirous
	Saint Bernadette of Lourdes
Virgin, Consecrated Religious
Born	Bernadeta Sobiros; 7 January 1844; Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France
Died	16 April 1879 (aged 35); Nevers, Nièvre, France
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Beatified	14 June 1925, Rome, by Pope Pius XI
Canonized	8 December 1933, Rome, by Pope Pius XI
Major shrine	Convent of Saint Gilard (Espace Bernadette Soubirous Nevers), Nevers
Feast	16 April; 18 February (France, some traditionalist congregations)
Patronage	Bodily illness, Lourdes, France, shepherds and shepherdesses, against poverty, people ridiculed for their faith

Saint Bernadette Soubirous (Occitan: Bernadeta Sobirós; 7 January 1844 – 16 April 1879), also known as Saint Bernadette of Lourdes, was the firstborn daughter of a miller from Lourdes (Lorda in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France, and is best known for experiencing Marian apparitions of a "young lady" who asked for a chapel to be built at the nearby cave-grotto at Massabielle. These apparitions are said to have occurred between 11 February and 16 July 1858, and the lady who appeared to her identified herself as the Immaculate Conception.

Despite initial skepticism from some Church authorities, Soubirous's claims were eventually declared "worthy of belief" after a canonical investigation, and the Marian apparition became known as Our Lady of Lourdes. Since her death, Soubirous's body has apparently remained internally incorrupt, but it is not without blemish; during her third exhumation in 1925, the firm of Pierre Imans made light wax coverings for her face and her hands due to the discoloration that her skin had undergone after her body was cleansed. These masks were placed on her face and hands before she was moved to her crystal reliquary in June 1925.^[2]The Marian shrine at Lourdes (Midi-Pyrénées, from 2016 part of Occitanie) went on to become a major pilgrimage site, attracting over five million pilgrims of all denominations each year.

On 8 December 1933 Pope Pius XI declared Soubirous a saint of the Catholic Church. Her feast-day, initially specified as 18 February—the day her Lady promised to make her happy, not in this life, but in the next— is now observed in most places on the date of her death, 16 April.

Early stages of her life

St. Bernadette

Marie Bernarde Soubirous was the daughter of François Soubirous (1807–1871), a miller, and Louise (née Casteròt; 1825–1866), a laundress.^[3] She was the eldest of nine children—Bernadette, Jean (born and died 1845), Toinette (1846–1892), Jean-Marie (1848–1851), Jean-Marie (1851–1919), Justin (1855–1865), Pierre (1859–1931), Jean (born and died 1864), and a baby named Louise who died soon after her birth (1866).

Soubirous was born on 7 January 1844 and baptized at the local parish church, St. Pierre's, on 9 January, her parents' wedding anniversary. Her godmother was Bernarde Casterot, her mother's sister, a moderately wealthy widow who owned a tavern. Hard times had fallen on France and the family lived in extreme poverty. Soubirous was a sickly child and possibly due to this only measured 4 ft.7in. tall. She contracted cholera as a toddler and suffered severe asthma for the rest of her life. Soubirous attended the day school conducted by the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction from Nevers.^[4] Contrary to a belief popularized by Hollywood movies, Soubirous learned very little French, only studying French in school after age 13 due to being frequently ill and a poor learner.^{[citation needed]} She could read and write very little due to her frequent illness. She spoke the language of Occitan, which was spoken by the local population of the Pyrenees region at that time and to a lesser degree today (which is similar to Catalan spoken in eastern Spain).