Epiphany: Bernadette Soubirous (Lourdes)

Bernadette Soubirous 7 January 1844 – 16 April 1879), also known as Bernadette of Lourdes. She was the daughter of François Soubirous (1807–1871), a miller, and his wife Louise (née Casteròt; 1825–1866), a laundress.[4] She was the eldest of nine children.  From Wikipedia (Full entry here)

Visions

On 11 February 1858, Bernadette, then aged 14, was out gathering firewood with her sister Toinette and a friend near the grotto of Massabielle when she experienced her first vision. While the other girls crossed the little stream in front of the grotto and walked on, Bernadette stayed behind, looking for a place to cross where she wouldn't get her stockings wet. She finally sat down to take her shoes off in order to cross the water and was lowering her stocking when she heard the sound of rushing wind, but nothing moved. A wild rose in a natural niche in the grotto, however, did move. From the niche, or rather the dark alcove behind it, "came a dazzling light, and a white figure". This was the first of 18 visions of what she referred to as aquerò Gascon Occitan for "that". In later testimony, she called it "a small young lady" (uo petito damizelo). 

Her sister and her friend stated that they had seen nothing.

2nd Vision

On 14 February, after Sunday Mass, Bernadetee, with her sister Marie and some other girls, returned to the grotto. Soubirous knelt down immediately, saying she saw the apparition again. When one of the girls threw holy water at the niche and another threw a rock from above that shattered on the ground, the apparition disappeared. On her next visit, 18 February, Soubirous said that "the vision" asked her to return to the grotto every day for a fortnight.

Holy Fortnight

This period of almost daily visions came to be known as la Quinzaine sacrée, "holy fortnight." Initially, Bernadette's parents, especially her mother, were embarrassed and tried to forbid her to go. The supposed apparition did not identify herself until the seventeenth vision. Although the townspeople who believed she was telling the truth assumed she saw the Virgin Mary, Bernadette never claimed it to be Mary, consistently using the word aquerò. She described the lady as wearing a white veil, a blue girdle and with a yellow rose on each foot – compatible with "a description of any statue of the Virgin in a village church".

Bertnadette's story caused a sensation among the townspeople, who were divided in their opinions on whether or not she was telling the truth. Some believed her to have a mental illness and demanded she be put in an asylum.

Drink the Water

The other contents of  Bernadette's reported visions were simple and focused on the need for prayer and penance. On 25 February she explained that the vision had told her "to drink of the water of the spring, to wash in it and to eat the herb that grew there," as an act of penance. To everyone's surprise, the next day the grotto was no longer muddy but clear water flowed. On 2 March, at the thirteenth apparition, Bernadette told her family that the lady said that "a chapel should be built and a procession formed".

Immaculate Conception

The sixteenth vision, which Bernadette stated went on for over an hour, was on 25 March. According to her account, during that visitation, she again asked the woman for her name but the lady just smiled back. She repeated the question three more times and finally heard the lady say, in Gascon Occitan, "I am the Immaculate Conception" (Que soy era immaculada councepciou in Occitan). Despite being rigorously interviewed by officials of both the Catholic Church and the French government, she stuck consistently to her story.

On 7 April, Bernadette had another vision, during which her hand was apparently not burnt while being in contact with the flame of a candle for several minutes. On 8 June 1858, the mayor of Lourdes decided to barricade the grotto and put guards to prevent public access. On 16 July, Bernadette came back to see the grotto from the other side of the river and experienced her eighteenth and last apparition of the lady.

Death

Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity in Nevers. She eventually died of a long-term illness at the age of 35 on 16 April 1879 (Easter Wednesday), while praying the Holy Rosary. On her deathbed, as she suffered from severe pain and in keeping with the Virgin Mary's admonition of "Penance, Penance, Penance," Bernadette proclaimed that "all this is good for Heaven!" Her final words were, "Blessed Mary, Mother of God, Pray for me". Bernadette's body was laid to rest in the St Joseph Chapel, in the grounds of her convent.

Comment

I have read a very scholary account of Lourdes by Ruth Harrs, tutor in Modern History at New College Oxford - details below.  It is clear that  Bernadette did not invent her visions. She was interogated by civil and church authorities and stuck to her story, including the fact that the apparition she saw was a young girl not a young woman. The church authorities nevertheless commissioned a traditional statue of the Virgin Mary to go in the new basilica at Lourdes. Bernadette rejected it as too tall and too old.

The visions and the words she heard were all inside her head and not out in the real world for anyone else to see or hear. It is perfectly possible for an individual to "see" things in the real world that are not there. I know this from personal experience of being with someone who had a problem with a brain condition that produced strange images when for a period it flared up, We would call such things hallucinations. 

Even though Bernadette's visions were an internal product of her brain the question  remains, why did they occur?

The secular and sensible answer is that she suffered some brain disturbance of unknown cause, that lasted for the period of the visions and then ceased. The faith-based answer is that her spirit received several divine epiphanies in which she received a rare communication from the spirit realm to her own spirit. 

Other Visions of Mary - none of recent date!

1. Our Lady of Guadalupe: In 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican, on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City. This apparition is one of the most famous and is celebrated on December 12th.
2. Our Lady of Fátima: In 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children, Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco, in Fátima, Portugal. She delivered messages and prophecies, and the site has become a major pilgrimage destination.
3. Our Lady of La Salette: In 1846, the Virgin Mary appeared to two children, Maximin Giraud and Mélanie Calvat, in La Salette, France. She delivered a message of repentance and conversion.
4. Our Lady of Knock: In 1879, the Virgin Mary, along with Saint Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist, appeared to a group of villagers in Knock, Ireland. This apparition is unique because it was a silent vision with no spoken messages

"Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular Age" by Ruth Harris 

This  is a comprehensive historical account of the famous shrine in Lourdes, France. Harris, an Oxford historian, delves into the development of Lourdes as a major pilgrimage site and its impact on both believers and nonbelievers.

The book explores the initial skepticism of the Catholic Church regarding Bernadette Soubirous' visions and the subsequent establishment of a Medical Board to evaluate claims of miraculous healing. Harris argues that the growth of Lourdes was not a result of political or clerical orchestration but rather a spontaneous outlet for social aspirations that could not find expression in the secular or religious institutions of the time.

Harris provides a revisionist interpretation, challenging the assumptions of 19th-century positivists and highlighting the complex interplay between faith, science, and society. The book is well-researched and skillfully narrated, offering a nuanced perspective on the phenomenon of Lourdes.

(AI generated review)