Bernadette Recounts Her Apparitions. Doucet Publications - Lourdes.
Much has been said and written about the apparitions of Our Lady to Bernadette in Lourdes. However, the most original, genuine, and realistic account of the apparitions were recounted by Bernadette herself. Characterized by its simplicity, clarity, vividness, and spontaneity, the way Bernadette recounted her apparitions was as straightforward and spontaneous as she has always been. The book, Bernadette Recounts Her Apparitions, is the most authentic evidence of the apparitions in Lourdes as it provides a very thorough, complete and detailed description of the apparitions in Bernadette's own words. The narratives are preceded with a description of the life of Bernadette so as to enable the readers to develop a deeper insight into the life of the saint. Through this book, readers would be able to understand the meaning of poverty, suffering and humiliation characterized by the life of this poor shepherd girl. This book also consists of reproductions of the autographed manuscripts about the apparitions as well as photos of the main protagonists related to the events in Lourdes at the time of the apparitions and photos of the Sanctuary of Lourdes. It is one of my favorite souvenirs from Lourdes.
Who Was Bernadette?
Bernadette was the eldest daughter of Francois Soubirous, a miller, and his wife, Louise Casterot. Born at Boly Mill on 7 January 1844, she was baptized at the parish church of St. Peter on 9 January. Her godmother was her aunt, Bernarde Casterot and her godfather was Jean Vedere. When she was 10 months old, her mother could not breastfeed her due to an accident with a candle which burnt her breast and she was sent to Bartres to be fostered by Marie Lagues, her wet nurse. Bernadette returned to Boly Mill when she was 26 months old. At the age of 11, she contracted cholera when the plague broke out in Lourdes and continued to suffer from asthma all her life. When she was 13, her father was reduced to poverty and the family had to take shelter in the Cachot, a damp. filthy, and unhealthy former prison cell. She was sent to Bartres once again to work as a farm girl so that her family would have one less mouth to feed. However, hardship, homesickness, and loneliness made her persuade her parents to let her return to Lourdes and she was finally reunited with her family in the Cachot on 21 January 1858. On 11 February 1858, Bernadette went to Massabielle to collect bones and firewood with her sister, Antoinette, and their friend, Jeanne Abadie. That was the day she saw the Virgin Mary for the first time. From 11 February 1858 to 16 July 1858, Our Lady appeared to her 18 times and these apparitions changed her life forever. For a more detailed account of Bernadette's life, please read Bartrès and Bernadette, The Cachot, The Passion of Bernadette, and The Message of Lourdes.
Bernadette has recounted the apparitions in Lourdes many times before the civil and ecclesiastical authorities and in response to the numerous questions from family members, friends, priests, and pilgrims as everyone was eager to know what happened at the grotto. In this article, I would like share the letter that she has written to Abbe Charles Bouin giving him an account of what happened at the grotto of Lourdes.
Bernadette's Letter to Charles Bouin
In her LETTER TO ABBE CHARLES BOUIN, Bernadette gave him an account of her apparitions and of the events at the grotto. Who was Charles Bouin and why did Bernadette write to him? Charles Bouin grew up in a protestant family but was converted and ordained a priest on 21 December 1863. He went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1864 and there he met Bernadette. Deeply devoted to the Virgin Mary, he asked Bernadette to write to him and give him an account of the apparitions. Below is the letter which she wrote to him on 22 August 1864.
"I went to the grotto for the first time to collect firewood with two girls. When we reached the mill, I asked them if they would like to see where the water from the mill flowed into the river. They agreed. We walked along the channel and arrived in front of the grotto. My companions waded across the water but I remained by myself on the other side.
I asked them to throw some stones into the water so that I could cross without having to take off my shoes but they told me to do as they had done if I wanted to cross over to the other side.
At that instant, I went a little further down and tried to cross over but failed to so. I went back to the front of the grotto.
I started to take off my shoes and had just taken off one shoe when I heard the sound of a gust of wind. When I turned towards the meadow, I became aware that the trees were not moving. I started to take off the other shoe and then heard the same sound again.
I raised my head towards the grotto and saw a lady dressed in white She was wearing a white dress, a blue belt with a white veil over her head and a yellow rose on each foot.
I thought that it was an illusion and rubbed my eyes. I looked at the grotto again and again and continued to see the same lady. I then put my hand into my pocket and took out my rosary.
I tried to make the sign of the cross but I could not do so because I could not raise my hand to my forehead. Although I was very frightened, I did not run away.
The Lady made the sign of the cross. I also tried to make the sign of the cross and this time, I succeeded. After I made the sign of the cross, calmness descended upon me and I said the rosary with the lady before me.
She beckoned me to approach her with her finger but I did not dare to do so and remained in the same place.
After reciting the rosary, I asked my companions whether they saw anything. They said that they did not. I asked them again, but they answered in the negative. I told them not to say nothing to anyone about it. "So you've seen something," they said to me.
I didn't want to tell them what happened but they pressured me so much that I gave in and told them everything on the condition that they would not reveal it to anybody. They promised me not to tell anyone; but no sooner had they arrived home, than they lost no time in talking about the lady dressed in white that I had seen.
That was what happened when I went to the grotto for the first time. It was Thursday, 11 February 1858.
The next Sunday I went there for a second time together with several other people. Some of them told me to bring paper and ink and ask the lady, should she ever appear again, to put whatever she wanted to say in writing.
Upon reaching that place, I started to recite the rosary. At the end of the first ten Hail Marys, the lady appeared and I asked her to put in writing anything she wanted to say to me. She smiled and said that it was not necessary to put what she wanted to say to me in writing. She asked me if I would be so kind as to return to the grotto for the next fifteen days.
I promised her that I would do so.
She wanted me to see the priests and tell them to build a chapel there and asked me to drink at the spring and wash myself, and to pray for sinners. She said this to me a few times.
She also told me that she promised me happiness not in this world but in the other.
I asked her repeatedly who she was and she replied with a smile. I saw her on fifteen consecutive days, except a Monday and a Friday.
At the end of the fifteen days, she said that she was the Immaculate Conception. She had blue eyes."
Lourdes, 22 August 1864
Bernadette Soubirous
Bernadette has recounted her apparitions many times to different people. Her accounts may not be exactly the same each time but in their entirety they are still the best and most reliable evidence of the apparitions in Lourdes. For further reading about Bernadette's original accounts of the apparitions, you can refer to the book entitled Bernadette Recounts Her Apparitions, an indispensable record of the apparitions that every pilgrim would love to have.
Reference:
Bernadette Recounts Her Apparitions. Doucet Publications - Lourdes.
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