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St. Bernadette
The story of Bernadette and the visions of Mary that she received in Lourdes is well-known. Notre Dame’s own Grotto replicates the Lourdes grotto on a one-seventh scale and is a center of prayer on campus.
Bernadette’s own story, however, is more obscure. She was the oldest of six children born to a poor miller and his wife. The family business did not thrive, and the family lived in poverty. Bernadette had to work instead of going to school, and was hired out as a servant for two years when she was 12. At the time of the visions, the family was living in the basement of a worn-down building in town. On top of her poverty, Bernadette suffered from asthma and was never consistently healthy. People did not think her to be bright.
The apparitions gathered an extreme amount of attention to Bernadette. Anti-clerical French authorities tried to scare her into retracting her account because of the crowds of pilgrims who gathered at the cave where Mary appeared to her. She was questioned and cross-examined and interviewed unceasingly.
In addition, the pilgrims who came to Lourdes sought her out looking for the miraculous. They tried to cut pieces from her dress and they asked her to bless things. Many tried to give her money, but she and her family refused so as to not appear to be profiting from the apparition.
After a few years, Bernadette went to a convent of nuns who cared for the sick and the poor. She was both, so they took her in as a member of their community. They taught her to read and write, though she was often mistreated by her superiors.
When the church was built that Mary had asked for, Bernadette excused herself from the celebration of its consecration. She was always humble and very simple—she compared herself to a broom, saying, “Our Lady used me. They have put me back in my corner. I am happy there.”
She continued to suffer from asthma and other illnesses, and died in the convent at the age of 35 in 1879. She is depicted in a statue at the Grotto on campus, as well as in a stained glass window in the Howard Hall chapel. Her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame’s campus, and her photo is used here with permission from Catholic.org.
St. Bernadette, you received visions of Mary at Lourdes and lived a simple life of humility—pray for us!

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