Feast Day: February 11

Our Lady of Lourdes is a devotional title of the Virgin Mary commemorating her appearance to a 14-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubirous, in Lourdes, France. Bernadette had been gathering firewood on February 11, 1858, with her sister and a friend when a lady surrounded by a dazzling light appeared to them in a grotto, dressed in white with a blue girdle, a rosary, and a yellow rose on each foot. They were frightened, but the lady smiled and invited Beradette to pray the Rosary with her. Bernadette returned and experienced apparitions seventeen more times, during which the lady spoke to her about penance, prayer, and the conversion of sinners. At one point, the lady instructed Bernadette to dig in the ground where a spring was uncovered which is now the focal point for pilgrims to Lourdes. The lady told Bernadette, "I am the Immaculate Conception." 

After the apparitions, pilgrims began to travel to honor Our Lady of Lourdes. Many drank from or bathed in the water of the spring, and many miraculous healings were reported. A statue based on Bernadette's description was placed in the grotto in 1864, and a great sanctuary gradually was built near the site. Today, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes includes several basilicas, chapels, fountains, as well as facilities for the sick and disabled. Each year, millions of pilgrims travel there seeking physical and spiritual healing and closer connection with Mary and Jesus. 

The feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes is February 11, a day when the Church prays especially for the sick and all who suffer, entrusting them to her loving care.
 

Connecting to Blest Are We^® Parish and School, second edition
Grade Two, chapter 2