For Against

Her poverty stricken parents always refused gifts of money or food from well-meaning people.

Her visions seemed “contagious” and many other townspeople young and old were claiming supernatural visions at the grotto and elsewhere.

Bernadette had not been aware of the concept of the “immaculate conception” at the time because she was still studying basic Catholic Catechism.

Her and her family already held a strong religious view within Catholicism

After intensive cross-examination from local police, she remained innocent and there were no flaws in her tale.

Her life was a lonely one, where she was over worked and experiencing crisis. She was ill as a child with cholera and suffered with asthmatic issues throughout her life.

She never seemed to want anything from her visions; she lived a simple life as a nun after her experiences. Upon her first experience she only told her sisters from which rumours started spreading about her visions.

The images that she would have seen in village churches as a devout Christian match her description of the apparition which may have influenced her subconscious.

Bernadette never claimed it was the Virgin Mary but instead called the lady in her visions “Aquero”.

After the first vision, Bernadette regularly went to the grotto with followers to seek the visions, however despite being accompanied by thousands only she could see the vision.

Saint Bernadette Soubirous

Background

She was born on 7th January 1884 in Lourdes France. Her family were very economically disadvantaged, living in an old converted prison cell. She was baptised shortly after birth and was the eldest of 9 children. Bernadette had an immense faith in God from an early age. She was often told she was

stupid because she couldn’t learn her Catechism. Bernadette often replied that at least she would know how to love the good God.

By the age of 14 she went to Catholic school to learn catechism amongst 7 year olds

Religious Experience

She started having visions at the age of 14, which lasted for 5 months. There were a total of 18 visions. Her vision occurred when collecting firewood with her sister and friend and lasted for about 15 minutes. She

came across a grotto, which at the time was filled with rubbish. The others carried on walking and left her in the grotto where she saw “a small lady dressed in white, wearing a white dress, blue girdle, and a yellow rose on each foot, the same colour as the chain of her rosary”. She felt frightened but could not run away. Townspeople assumed the vision was the Virgin Mary.

Her parents forbade her from returning again but Bernadette felt inwardly compelled to return. Her third experience was when the lady spoke to Bernadette for the first time. She was accompanied by a few

adults. The lady asked Bernadette to come to the grotto regularly for a fortnight and promised to make her happy in the next world. Over the next fortnight thousands of people began to accompany her to the grotto.

Her 7th experience involved the lady instructing Bernadette to ask the priests to build a chapel by the grotto. Despite initial scepticism the priests eventually agreed to her request.

On her 9th visit the lady asked Bernadette to drink from the springs. She couldn’t see any springs so she started digging with her bare hands and drunk from the muddy water. To the onlookers it appeared to be a disgusting act, however over the following days clear water started to flow from the spring that Bernadette had been digging. The spring remains in Lourdes to this day, and there are claims that this water has healing powers.

On the 16thappearance the lady revealed herself as “the immaculate conception”. At the time Bernadette didn’t realise the significance of these words as the doctrine had only just been approved by the Vatican.