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Acta Sanctorum: St. Bernadette Soubirous (April 16)

April 16, 2026

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S

April 16

St. Bernadette Soubirous

Life (1844-1879)

We can’t think of Lourdes without thinking of the 14-year-old girl to whom Our Lady appeared there in 1858 - Bernadette Soubirous. St. Paul wrote, “God … singled out the weak of the world to shame the strong.” (I Cor. 1:27). In her apparitions to various people, Mary has followed the same policy. She has never revealed herself to presidents or potentates or plutocrats. She has chosen simple but substantial people, whether men or women or children.

Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes was just such a person. A teenager who was physically frail and who, at that point, had not yet learned to read or write, or even studied her catechism or made her first Holy Communion! Bernadette was nevertheless solid, balanced and docile. A good one, in other words, to be sent as Mary’s ambassador to urge Catholics to prayers and penance for sinners, and to urge the local clergy to set up a chapel at the riverside grotto of the apparitions. In exchange for Bernadette’s prophetic role, Mary did not promise her to make her happy on this earth, only in the next. Bernadette began to experience frustrations during the apparitions themselves, in the form of excessive pestering by the curious people who flocked to the new shrine. But when the apparitions ceased, the young girl sought to escape from this turmoil. By then her embassy was basically accomplished. Now she wanted to hide from the world - to be retired, she said, as an old broom is retired behind the door. At the age of 18, Bernadette sought entrance into the Sisters of Notre Dame at Nevers. However, she could not be completely anonymous even there. The very nuns of her religious community sometimes expected her to be proud because of her special graces. But she would point out, “Don’t I know that the Blessed Virgin chose me because I was the most ignorant? If she had found anyone else more ignorant than me, she would have chosen her.”

Although St. Bernadette’s mission was officially finished in July, 1858, she had the continuing duty of living up to Mary’s injunctions, and of thus setting an example for others. As a nun, she sought to fulfill perfectly the rule of her community. She accepted even her chronic illness in that light. Thus, on a certain day, one of her superiors, finding her in bed because of her serious ailments, twitted her, “What are you doing there in bed, you lazy little thing?” Sister Marie Bernarde (her name in religious) replied, “Why my dear Mother, I’m doing my job.” “And what is your job?” “Being ill” said Bernadette.

Always a vital part of her own “prayers for sinners” was the rosary, which she constantly recommended to all. Part of the rosary was the sign of the cross. Whether in the rosary or at any other time, from the days of the Lourdes apparitions on, Bernadette was noted for the wonderful way she made the sign of the cross. One observer at the grotto later wrote, “If the sign of the cross is made in heaven, it can only be made in this manner.” Everybody marveled at the way she crossed herself - slowly, reverently, “with majesty.” “It is important to make it well,” she told one of her fellow novices in the convent. The sisters respected the way she blessed herself, because they knew who had taught her. It was Our Lady herself, during the Lourdes apparitions. Do we make the sign of the cross often? (Do you know that we can obtain a partial indulgence, applicable, if we choose, to the souls in purgatory, every time we make it?) Why not take on the project of always blessing ourselves slowly and reverently, pondering meanwhile what that sign means? If we offer up these signs of the cross for the conversions of sinners, we will also be corresponding with what Our Lady of Lourdes asked of us through her humble ambassadress, Bernadette Soubirous. --Father Robert F. McNamara

Scripture (Song of Songs 2:1014)

My beloved spoke and said to me,
    “Arise, my darling,
    my beautiful one, come with me.
See! The winter is past;
    the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
    the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
    is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit;
    the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
    my beautiful one, come with me.”

My dove in the clefts of the rock,
    in the hiding places on the mountainside,
show me your face,
    let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
    and your face is lovely.

Writings

(Year A). The first time I went to the Grotto was Thursday, February II, 1858. I was going to collect wood with two other girls and we went in the direction of the Grotto? When we reached the mill, I asked them if they wanted to go see where the water from the mill joined the Gave. They said yes. We followed the canal and when we got there, we found ourselves before a Grotto. Since we could go no farther, my two companions began to cross the stream in front of the Grotto, and I was there alone on the other side. They started crying, and I asked them why. They answered that it was because the water was cold. I asked the other girls to throw some stones in the water to help me see if I could cross without removing my shoes.” They said that if I wanted to cross the stream, I could do as they had done. I went a little farther to see if there was a place where I could cross without removing my shoes, but it was no use. Scarcely had I removed my first stocking,when I heard a noise like a sudden gust of wind.'° When I turned my head toward the prairie, I saw that the trees were not swaying at all, so I began removing my stockings again. I heard the same noise again. When I raised my head and looked at the Grotto, I saw a Lady in white. She was wearing a white gown with a blue sash, a white veil and a golden rose on each foot, the same color as the chain of her Rosary, which had white beads. She was surrounded with white light, but it was not a blinding light. She had blue eyes. When I first saw her, I was a little bit afraid. Thinking that what I was seeing was an illusion, I rubbed my eyes, but it made no difference: I still saw the same Lady. So I put my hand in my pocket and took out my Rosary. I tried in vain to make the sign of the cross; I was not able to raise my hand to my forehead. When I realized this, I froze completely in fear. The Lady took the Rosary she was holding between her hands and she made the sign of the cross. Then I tried a second time and this time I was able do it. Immediately after I had made the sign of the cross, the great fear that had seized me disappeared. I knelt and prayed the Rosary, in the presence of this beautiful Lady. She passed the beads of her Rosary*’ between her fingers, but she did not move her lips. When I finished praying the Rosary, she made a sign to me to draw near to her, but I did not dare. Then she suddenly disappeared. I removed my other stocking to cross the stream in front of the Grotto, and we left. Along the way, I asked my friends if they had seen anything. They answered, “No. And how about you? Did you see something?” I said, “Oh no. If you didn’t see anything, I didn’t see anything either.” I did not want to tell them what I had seen, but they were so insistent that I decided to if they promised not to breathe a word of it to anyone. They thought that she wanted to do us harm, so they said I should not go back there again and neither should they. I told them no. They promised to keep the secret, but no sooner did they get home than they rushed to tell what I had seen. So that was the first time. (Journal)

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