- Wed Apr 16, 2014 12:10 pm
#211666
Prayer re Saint Bernadette of Lourdes
O God, protector and lover of the humble, You bestowed on Your servant, Bernadette, the favor of the vision of Our Lady, the Immaculate Virgin Mary, and of speech with her. Grant that we may deserve to behold You in heaven. Amen.
Feast Day of Saint Bernadette - April 16th
In 1858, in the grotto of Massabielle, near Lourdes in southern France, Our Lady appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous, a young peasant girl. It wasn't until the 16th Apparition, on 25th March 1858, that the Lady reveals her name. (This day co-incides with the feast of the Annunciation, the celebration of the Archangel Gabriel saluting her as 'Full of Grace'.) The Lady says, "I am the Immaculate Conception". Poor little Bernadette, she didn't even know what those words meant.
The Immaculate Conception asked that a chapel be built on the site of the vision, and told Bernadette to drink from a fountain in the grotto. No fountain was to be seen, but when Bernadette dug at a spot designated by the apparition, a spring began to flow. The water from this still flowing spring has shown remarkable healing power and science has yet to identify any curative property.
The message of Our Lady of Lourdes is about the healing Mercy of God, prayers and penance. St. Bernadette testified to this call of Our Lady of Lourdes by living the rest of her life in humble prayer and suffering in a convent in France.
Lourdes has become the most famous modern shrine of Our Lady. Bernadette died on 16th April 1879.
On 8th December 1933, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Bernadette was declared a Saint by Pope Pius XI. The body of Saint Bernadette remains in the main chapel of the Convent of Saint Gildard in the city of Nevers, France. To this day, she remains entirely incorrupt. Around her shrine are inscribed the words of the great promise made to her at Lourdes by the Most Blessed Virgin at the second Apparition: "I do not promise that you will be happy in this world, only in the next."
Let us pray:
O My God, I beg You, by Your loneliness,
not that You may spare me affliction, but that You may not abandon me in it.
When I encounter affliction, teach me to see You in it as my sole comforter.
Let affliction strengthen my faith, fortify my hope, and purify my love.
Grant me the grace to see Your hand in my affliction, and to desire no other comforter but You.
Amen
(Prayer by St. Bernadette)
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, pray for us.
- - -
Her feast-day was fixed for February 18th, the day her Lady promised to make her happy, not in this life, but in the next. The Faithful however give her two more feast-days - April 16th, the day of her death, and February 11th - the day her Lady stepped from Heaven into her heart.
- - -
For some modern photos of St Bernadette's incorrupt body, visit the following Web site:
http://www.catholicpilgrims.com/lourdes ... oto_aa.htm
In 1909, when her body was exhumed with cause of her beatification, Bernadette appeared exactly as she had been at the day of her death. Her body was then wash, dressed in a fresh habit, placed in a new coffin, and lowered back into the tomb. In 1919, again her body was exhumed with cause of her canonization. Again, her body remained intact. In 1923, her body was exhumed again so that her relics could now be exposed for public veneration. This time, the skin on the face had discolored slightly, maybe due to the washing the body had received and its exposure to the organisms of the air. Consequently, it was decided to cover the face and hands with light wax masks.
__._,_.___
O God, protector and lover of the humble, You bestowed on Your servant, Bernadette, the favor of the vision of Our Lady, the Immaculate Virgin Mary, and of speech with her. Grant that we may deserve to behold You in heaven. Amen.
Feast Day of Saint Bernadette - April 16th
In 1858, in the grotto of Massabielle, near Lourdes in southern France, Our Lady appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous, a young peasant girl. It wasn't until the 16th Apparition, on 25th March 1858, that the Lady reveals her name. (This day co-incides with the feast of the Annunciation, the celebration of the Archangel Gabriel saluting her as 'Full of Grace'.) The Lady says, "I am the Immaculate Conception". Poor little Bernadette, she didn't even know what those words meant.
The Immaculate Conception asked that a chapel be built on the site of the vision, and told Bernadette to drink from a fountain in the grotto. No fountain was to be seen, but when Bernadette dug at a spot designated by the apparition, a spring began to flow. The water from this still flowing spring has shown remarkable healing power and science has yet to identify any curative property.
The message of Our Lady of Lourdes is about the healing Mercy of God, prayers and penance. St. Bernadette testified to this call of Our Lady of Lourdes by living the rest of her life in humble prayer and suffering in a convent in France.
Lourdes has become the most famous modern shrine of Our Lady. Bernadette died on 16th April 1879.
On 8th December 1933, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Bernadette was declared a Saint by Pope Pius XI. The body of Saint Bernadette remains in the main chapel of the Convent of Saint Gildard in the city of Nevers, France. To this day, she remains entirely incorrupt. Around her shrine are inscribed the words of the great promise made to her at Lourdes by the Most Blessed Virgin at the second Apparition: "I do not promise that you will be happy in this world, only in the next."
Let us pray:
O My God, I beg You, by Your loneliness,
not that You may spare me affliction, but that You may not abandon me in it.
When I encounter affliction, teach me to see You in it as my sole comforter.
Let affliction strengthen my faith, fortify my hope, and purify my love.
Grant me the grace to see Your hand in my affliction, and to desire no other comforter but You.
Amen
(Prayer by St. Bernadette)
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, pray for us.
- - -
Her feast-day was fixed for February 18th, the day her Lady promised to make her happy, not in this life, but in the next. The Faithful however give her two more feast-days - April 16th, the day of her death, and February 11th - the day her Lady stepped from Heaven into her heart.
- - -
For some modern photos of St Bernadette's incorrupt body, visit the following Web site:
http://www.catholicpilgrims.com/lourdes ... oto_aa.htm
In 1909, when her body was exhumed with cause of her beatification, Bernadette appeared exactly as she had been at the day of her death. Her body was then wash, dressed in a fresh habit, placed in a new coffin, and lowered back into the tomb. In 1919, again her body was exhumed with cause of her canonization. Again, her body remained intact. In 1923, her body was exhumed again so that her relics could now be exposed for public veneration. This time, the skin on the face had discolored slightly, maybe due to the washing the body had received and its exposure to the organisms of the air. Consequently, it was decided to cover the face and hands with light wax masks.
__._,_.___
Call on the angels! Especially this day. Call them with kindness! Send them before you in every situation and watch your circumstances improve and problems resolve in ways you could not have imagined.