St. Bernadette

BY LILY

WHO IS ST .BERNADETTE

Saint Bernadette was a miller's daughter from the town of Lourdes in southern France. From February 11 to July 16, 1858, she reported 18 apparitions of "a small young lady." Despite initial skepticism from the Catholic Church, these claims were eventually declared to be worthy of belief after a canonical investigation, and the apparition is known as Our Lady of Lourdes. After her death, Bernadette's body reportedly remained incorrupt (would not decompose), and the shrine at Lourdes went on to become a major site for pilgrimage, attracting millions of Catholics each year. On December 8, 1933, she was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church; her Feast Day is celebrated on April 16. She has been considered a Christian mystic.

Where was St. Bernadette born

Bernadette was born on the 7 January 1844Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France. Bernadette was born into a humble family which little by little fell into extreme poverty, Bernadette had always been a frail child. Quite young, she had already suffered from digestive trouble, then after having just escaped being a victim of the cholera epidemic of 1855, she experienced painful attacks of asthma, and her ill health almost caused her to be cut off for ever from the religious life. When asked by Monsignor Forcade to take Bernadette, Louise Ferrand, the Mother Superior of the Sisters of Nevers, replied: "Monsignor, she will be a pillar of the infirmary".