Our Lady of Lourdes,Newent

A Community of worship, love and service

The Story of Lourdes

Between February 11 and July 16, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared 18 times to 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous in the small town of Lourdes in the foothills of the Pyrenee mountains of southern France.

On Feb. 18^th Our Lady said: "I do not promise to make you happy in this life but in the next." On Feb. 24^th Mary asked for penance and prayer for the conversion of sinners; and the following day, she instructed Bernadette to dig the ground near the grotto. From that a spring came forth which to this day is used for the bath by pilgrims to Lourdes. At the apparition of March 2, Bernadette was instructed by Our Lady to "tell the priests that people should come here in procession and that a chapel should be built on the site." On the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, the Blessed Virgin told Bernadette in the dialect of Lourdes, “I am the Immaculate Conception." The sentence meant nothing to her but it was an amazing affirmation of the dogma that had been defined by Pope Pius IX just a few years earlier on December 8, 1854.

Bernadette entered the Sisters of Notre Dame at Nevers in 1866 and was given the name of Sister Mary Bernarda. She worked there as sacristan and avoided publicity as best she could. She died on April 16, 1879 at the young age of 35. She appears in the church records as St. Mary Bernarda but in the hearts of the faithful she is lovingly remembered as St. Bernadette. Rev. Matthew Mauriello –

For further information see:

http://www.lourdes-france.com/

Office Address:

"Drumlanrig",

Ross Road,

Newent,

Gloucestershire,

GL18 1BG