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The Eighteen Apparitions
On February 11th, 1858 Bernadette went to the woods in search of
firewood. She left the Cachot with her sister Toinette and a friend
known as Baloume. Her real name was Jeanne Abadie. At this stage
Bernadette was 14 years old. They made their way across the river by
the banks of a small stream. This stream entered the river at a
natural grotto in Massabielle Rock. There was a pile of wood inside
the Grotto. Immediately Toinette and Baloume took off their clogs
and crossed the river. Bernadette did not want to get her feet wet.
She asked the other two girls to help her across the river and they
refused.
As she was taking off her clogs she heard a rushing sound. She
described it as like a gush of wind. When she looked over towards
the grotto she saw a "Lady in White". She seized her
rosary out of fright and the lady immediately crossed herself.
Bernadette began to pray. When the vision disappeared she ran after
the other two girls. She questioned them as to whether they had seen
anything. They replied that they had not. The two girls were
interested in what Bernadette had seen and she denied she had seen
anything. Eventually Bernadette told the others on the condition
that they told no one else. As soon as Toinette got home she told
her mother what had happened.
Louise immediately banned their daughters from returning to the
Grotto in fear of more misfortune hitting the family. Shortly after
this Bernadette mentioned what happened while in confession. Father
Domain asked her permission to tell the parish priest, Father
Peyramale, which he did. The Parish Priest thought it of no
importance.
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The Grotto at the time
of the Apparitions |
On February 14th, having obtained her father's permission,
Bernadette returned to the Grotto. Some girls with her brought a
flask of Holy Water. The Lady was still there. Again she smiled at
Bernadette. Bernadette said "If you are from God, then stay; if
not, go away". As the Lady stayed Bernadette started praying.
Her friends were so worried about Bernadette that they ran to a
local building, the Savy Mill, for help. Louise heard of this and
she came running in order to banish Bernadette from the Grotto.
At this stage everyone in Lourdes had heard of this. There were
various theories as to what was happening including the appearance
of a ghost of a young girl who died around that time. More and more
people started to accompany Bernadette to the Grotto every day. On
February 18th Bernadette went to the Grotto and saw the Lady. As she
had been told to do she asked her to write her name, she even
offered pen and paper for that purpose. In response the Lady said
"that is not necessary...Will you be so kind as to come here
every day for a fortnight?...I promise you happiness, not in this
world, but in the next".
In Lourdes the rumour started to gather force that Bernadette could
see the Holy Virgin. The crowds grew at each apparition, it started
at less than ten, then thirty, and, by the sixth apparition, more
than one hundred people. That evening the Police Superintendent
Jacomet gave Bernadette a rigourous interrogation. He justified this
in the cause of public order.
In the interrogation the Superintendent said to Bernadette "So,
you see the Holy Virgin, do you?". She replied "I never
said I saw the Holy Virgin" "Oh, so you didn't see
anything, then?" he replied. "Well, yes I did, I saw a
little lady" was Bernadette's answer. Over the course of the
rest of the interrogation Bernadette used the word Aquero,
(which means that), to describe the apparition.
Having heard what Bernadette had to say Jacomet did not believe her.
He tried to alter her story to confuse her but she corrected his
mistakes each time. Eventually Jacomet asked Francois to ban her
from returning to the Grotto. Bernadette insisted she would return
as she had promised to do so to the Lady.
She returned on February 23rd, along with 150 onlookers. The
following day, the eighth apparition there were three hundred in
attendance. Bernadette made her way forward on her knees and then
kissed the ground. She said that the Lady said to her
"Penitence, Penitence, Penitence" and "Pray God for
the conversion of sinners... go and kiss the ground in penitence for
sinners".
During the Ninth Apparition (February 25th), Bernadette got up and
made her way towards the River Gave. She stopped, turned around and
went back to the left of the Grotto. There she dug a hole which
filled with muddy water. Three times she tried to drink from it but
it was too dirty. On the fourth try she managed to swallow some of
the water. She then washed her face and fed a handful of grass into
her mouth. At the sight of this strange behaviour the onlookers were
appalled. However Bernadette justified her actions by saying that it
was what Aquero told her to do. "Go and drink from the
spring and wash yourself in it".
Following the occurrences that day Bernadette was summoned before
the Imperial Prosecutor, Dutour. Again she stuck to her tale and
refused to alter it. She promised that she would return to the
Grotto, and on the 27th and 28th of February, did so. These were the
Tenth and Eleventh Apparitions.
At the Grotto clear water had flowed continuously from the hole
since Bernadette had dug it. On March 1st Catherine Latapie
recovered the use of her paralysed hand after bathing it in water
from the spring. The Twelfth Apparition took place the same day. The
following day, after another apparition Bernadette went to see Monsieur
le Cure or Father Peyramale, who was the Parish Priest.
She brought with her a message from the Lady - "Let the people
come in procession and let a chapel be built here". However
Father Peyramale did not believe in the Apparitions and told her to
leave almost immediately. Bernadette persisted and returned to the
Presbytery that evening. Father Peyramale and the curates listened
to her at first but then sent her off with the instruction to
"Ask the Lady her name".
The following day three thousand people were at the Grotto to
witness the Apparition. This caused considerable alarm to the local
police. That evening Bernadette again visited the Parish Priest
saying "The Lady still wants her Chapel". He repeated his
request for the Lady's name. Furthermore he instructed that
Bernadette was to "make the rosebush at the Grotto
blossom". At dawn on March 4th there were eight thousand people
at the Grotto. Bernadette repeated all of the actions that had been
seen before: she went forward on her knees, drank from the spring,
washed herself and kissed the ground on behalf of sinners. The Lady
had not said her name. Later a number of people went to the Cachot
to see Bernadette. They wanted her to touch rosaries and offer her
money. She refused claiming that it burned her.
At this stage the fortnight of the visions was over and Bernadette
returned to school. The Grotto was constantly full of visitors and
sightseers. It was lit by candles day and night. During the night of
March 25th Bernadette felt she was being called. At Five in the
morning she went to the Grotto. Three times she asked the Lady her
name. All she got in reply was a smile. When she tried again Aquero
clasped her hands together and said "Que soy era
Immaculada Councepciou". This means "I am the
Immaculate Conception". Bernadette immediately went to Father
Peyramale and told him what Aquero had said. The priest
replied "Do you know what this means?". Bernadette replied
"No, but I kept saying the name to myself all the way
here". The Parish Priest was shaken by this development, and he
sent Bernadette home. How could Bernadette know of the dogma
declared four years earlier by Pope Pius IX? He contacted Monsignor
Laurence, bishop of Tarbes, immediately. That evening Bernadette
discovered the meaning of the Lady's words.
On April 7th, some twelve days later, Bernadette went to the Grotto
for the Seventeenth Apparition. During this time she did not notice
the flame of a candle flicking at her fingers for almost ten
minutes. There was a Doctor Dozous present. He was a sceptic but
when he examined the girl's hand afterwards he could find no trace
of a burn. He was one of the first to be converted in Lourdes.
Bernadette concentrated on her school works over the next while. She
took her First Communion on June 3rd, 1858. At the Grotto Louis
Bouriette, Blaisette Cazenave and Henri Busquet were all healed by
contact with the spring water. The local authorities were worried
about behaviour at the Grotto and boarded it up. On July 16th
Bernadette went to the opposite bank of the River from the Grotto
(the site of the new Saint Bernadette's Church) and met her Lady for
the eighteenth and last time. "I never saw her look so
lovely".
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