Visit to Ss. Peter and Paul’s Church of the Relics of St. Bernadette Soubirous

We are privileged to host the relics of St Bernadette from November 2nd to 4th. Full details are at the end of this post.

Bernadette Soubirous was born in Lourdes, a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains in the year 1844.

She was born into a poor but loving family, who suffered many hardships. Bernadette was a simple peasant-girl, uneducated and small in stature.

Although her health was poor due to chronic asthma, her days were full of hard work; missing school and Catechism lessons to stay at home and help out.
This simple peasant girl was chosen to give the message of the love God has for all mankind “as the adopted children of His Blessed Mother.”

In 1858, she saw the Virgin Mary eighteen times at the Grotto of Massabielle: the Apparitions of Lourdes were authenticated in 1866 by the Bishop of Tarbes. In that same year, Bernadette left Lourdes to live out her religious vocation within the community of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers.

She entered the convent of the Sisters of Charity, where she carried out humble work and was not given any special treatment. In silence, she endured extreme pain as she became seriously ill with tuberculosis of the lungs and bones. This humble saint died at the age of thirty-five and was proclaimed blessed in 1925, then a saint in 1933.

Bernadette’s body was exhumed on 18th April 1925 for her beatification. It was found to be uncorrupted. It was then decided to place it in the chapel of the Sisters of Nevers where it is still visible today.

Today, the Grotto of Lourdes is visited by millions each year. Many miracles have been attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes. Due to this, the 11th February, the date of the first apparition, is dedicated as the World Day of the Sick.

It was at Lourdes, that Our Lady herself proclaimed “I am the Immaculate Conception.” to Bernadette.

During the thirteenth apparition, the Virgin Mary asked Bernadette, “Go and tell the priests to build a chapel here and that people should come in procession.”

Bernadette thus became the Virgin Mary’s missionary, passing on her request to Father Peyramale, the parish priest of Lourdes. Today, the Sanctuary Our Lady of Lourdes wants to respond to this request in a new way. This is an opportunity to have Lourdes come to you and experience the pilgrimage in Lourdes at home in Ireland.

Like Bernadette, we want to:

• bear witness and proclaim that God is near and that in Him every life can be open to the happiness of the other world today.
• encourage a spirit of prayer and hope by helping all the faithful to rekindle the strength and dynamism of their Christian life and Marian piety.
• replicate the pilgrimage to Lourdes because the Virgin invites us to come here in procession to draw on the source of God’s powerful mercy and his action on behalf of humanity.

This visit is an opportunity and a way to share the grace of an encounter with Mary as Bernadette experienced it, to find in this encounter peace and joy of heart and to become credible and courageous witnesses of love.