From a decorative tile in Holy Cross Church, Carshalton. Taken by author. |
Sainte Bernadette Soubirous
On Thursday, February 11, 1858, fourteen-year-old Bernadette was sent with her younger sister and a friend to gather firewood, when a very beautiful lady appeared to her above a rose bush in a grotto called Massabielle. From the 11th of February until the 16th of July, the lady appeared 18 times. She revealed her identity to Bernadette in the words:
Que soy era immaculada councepciou. ('I am the Immaculate Conception').
She caused a spring to pour forth water in the grotto which was to become a world-famous place of pilgrimage for the sick in soul and body from the lifetime of Bernadette until today.
Her life
Marie-Bernadette Soubirous was born on the 4th of January 1844 in the town of Lourdes. She survived a cholera epidemic but her health remained fragile. In order to learn to read and write, she was accepted in January 1858 into a class for poor little girls in a Home run by the Sisters of Charity from Nevers.
Entre le 11 février et le 16 juillet 1858, sur la grotte de Massabielle, la Vierge Marie lui apparut 18 fois. Comme Bernadette lui demandait avec insistance son nom, elle répondit: « Je suis l’Immaculée Conception. » Le 18 février 1858, la Vierge Marie dit à Bernadette : « Je ne vous promets pas de vous rendre heureuse en ce monde mais dans l’autre. »
Between the 11th of February and the 16th of July 1858, in a grotto of Massabielle, the Virgin Mary appeared to her 18 times. Bernadette asked several times for the lady's name and she replied: "I am the Immaculate Conception." On the 18th of February 1858, the Virgin Mary said to Bernadette: "I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next." [Some say the dialect used is more accurately translated as : 'I do not promise you the happiness of this world, but of the next.']
Après avoir transmis aux prêtres l’affirmation solennelle d’identité et d’autres messages célestes, Bernadette, pour mieux échapper à la vue du monde, demanda son admission chez les Sœurs de la Charité et de l’Instruction chrétienne de Nevers. Elle arriva à Nevers en juillet 1866. Modèle de fidélité religieuse, supportant avec la plus grande patience toutes sortes de croix et des infirmités prolongées, elle se livrait fréquemment à l’oraison et à la méditation de la Parole du Seigneur. Elle avait un amour filial la Vierge Immaculée. Elle portait sur elle la Médaille Miraculeuse. Dans l’infirmerie devenue aujourd’hui un oratoire, âgée de trente-cinq ans, elle rend le dernier soupir et s’endort dans le Seigneur à 3 heures de l'après-midi, le 16 avril 1879.
Having passed on to the priests this solemn affirmation of identity and other heavenly messages, Bernadette, in order to flee from the prying eyes of the world, asked to be admitted into the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction in Nevers. She arrived in Nevers in July 1866. A model of religious fidelity, enduring with the greatest patience all sorts of crosses and extended periods of illness, she gave herself over to frequent prayer and meditation on the Word of the Lord. She had a daughter's love for the Immaculate Virgin. She wore the Miraculous Medal. Within the infirmary (which is today a place of prayer), aged 35 years, she breathed her last and fell asleep in the Lord at 3.00 pm on the 16th of April 1879.
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Ste Bernadette in death. [Public Domain] |
Sainte Marie Mère de Dieu, priez pour moi, pauvre pécheresse
Year after year she stood silently next to Mary at the foot of the Cross, right up to her last moment, saying softly:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me a poor sinner.
👑 👑 👑
Seeking Colloquy with Marie
Today, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, is the anniversary of my first consecration in 2019 to Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through His Mother Mary, the Glorious and Blessed Virgin of Virgins, and our own dearest Mother. Laudetur Jesus Christi et Maria Immaculata!
Here is a verse I began recently and finished today. I offer it to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in thanksgiving for all the graces, favours and help she has given to me in recent years, particularly since October 2017 (when I was delivered from a great affliction).
To thee Marie, divine Marie:
I fain would pen a verse to thee!
But where or whence or whither be
The theme or thought to sing of thee?
Perhaps a shelt’ring willow tree
That weeps yet gives us graces free?
Or else a lily’s purity
Whose scent is sweet sublimity?
But no, ‘tis in thine eyes I see,
As through a window wondrously,
Thy gentle soul which tenderly
Pours forth a Mother’s love for me.
Envoi
Crave of thy Son His clemency
That I a son of thine may be!
SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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