Our Lady of Lourdes Novena and Feast Day (February 11)

Our Lady of Lourdes is the title of the Virgin Mary who appeared eighteen times in 1858 to St. Bernadette Soubirous at the grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes, France, saying, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Millions of pilgrims visit Lourdes every year, many of them sick, to pray, to bathe in the waters of the spring and to join the candlelight processions. Her feast, February 11, is also the World Day of the Sick. Below is a nine-day novena to Our Lady of Lourdes, the traditional prayer from Father Lasance’s With God, prayers for the sick and for caregivers, the Gospel of the feast and the story of Lourdes.

When to pray the novena

To end on the eve of the feast, pray from February 2 to February 10. In 2027 the novena runs from Tuesday, February 2 (the Presentation of the Lord), to Wednesday, February 10, which is also Ash Wednesday, and the feast falls on Thursday, February 11. The novena may also be prayed at any time for someone who is sick.

The traditional prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes

From Father Lasance’s With God (1911):

O ever immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, health of the sick, refuge of sinners, comfort of the afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings; deign to cast upon me a look of mercy. By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors, and already many sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and corporal. I come, therefore, with unbounded confidence, to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain, O loving Mother, the grant of my requests. I will endeavor to imitate your virtues, that I may one day share your glory, and bless you in eternity. Amen.

How to pray the novena

Each day:

Make the Sign of the Cross and name your intention, especially for the sick.
Pray the traditional prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes above.
Reflect on the day’s theme from the story of Lourdes.
Pray a decade of the Rosary, as Bernadette did at the grotto.
End with the invocation: “Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. St. Bernadette, pray for us.”

The nine days

The Lady in the grotto (February 11, 1858). Bernadette sees a young Lady in white with a blue sash and a rosary. Pray for a simple, childlike faith.
The Rosary. The Lady prays the Rosary with Bernadette, moving her beads but saying only the Glory Be. Pray for faithfulness to the Rosary.
“Would you do me the kindness of coming here for fifteen days?” Pray for perseverance in prayer.
“I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next.” Pray for those who suffer and for the hope of heaven.
“Penance, penance, penance. Pray for sinners.” Pray for the conversion of sinners, and make a small sacrifice.
The spring (February 25). Bernadette digs in the mud and a spring appears. Pray for the sick who seek healing.
“Go tell the priests to build a chapel here and to come in procession.” Pray for priests and for the Church.
“I am the Immaculate Conception” (March 25). Thank God for Mary’s sinlessness and ask for purity of heart.
Bernadette’s hidden life. She becomes a sister and offers her illness for sinners. Pray for humility and for the grace to accept God’s will.

A prayer for the sick

Written for this page:

Our Lady of Lourdes, Health of the Sick,
at Lourdes you have comforted countless sufferers.
I bring before you (name), who is ill.
Ask your Son to heal him (her) in body and soul,
to give strength to the doctors and nurses,
and peace to all who wait and worry.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Amen.

A prayer for caregivers

Mary, Mother of the sick,
bless all who care for the suffering:
nurses, doctors, chaplains, family caregivers
and the volunteers who carry the sick at Lourdes.
Give them strength, patience and joy. Amen.

This prayer was written for this page.

The Gospel of the feast

At the wedding at Cana, Mary notices the need and turns to her Son:

And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine.
And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come.
His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.

The story of Lourdes

On February 11, 1858, fourteen-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, the poor daughter of a miller, went with her sister and a friend to gather firewood near the grotto of Massabielle, beside the river Gave. There she saw a young Lady, whom she called Aquero (“that one”), dressed in white with a blue sash. Over the following months the Lady appeared to her eighteen times, the last on July 16, 1858. She asked for prayer and penance for sinners, for a chapel to be built and for people to come in procession, and she led Bernadette to uncover a spring whose water still flows. On March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, she said in the local dialect, “I am the Immaculate Conception,” confirming the dogma Pope Pius IX had defined in 1854.

In 1862 the bishop of Tarbes declared that the faithful were justified in believing in the apparitions. Pope St. Pius X extended the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes to the whole Church in 1907, and in 1992 Pope St. John Paul II chose February 11 as the World Day of the Sick. Among the many cures reported at Lourdes, about seventy have been officially recognized by the Church as miraculous after examination by doctors. See the St. Bernadette prayer for her life.

Frequently asked questions

When is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes?

February 11, the anniversary of the first apparition. It is also the World Day of the Sick.

When should I start the novena to Our Lady of Lourdes?

On February 2, to finish on February 10, the eve of the feast.

What did Our Lady say at Lourdes?

She asked for prayer and penance for sinners, a chapel and processions, and revealed herself as “the Immaculate Conception.”

Are the Lourdes healings real?

The Church has recognized about seventy cures as miraculous after strict medical and theological examination, and many other graces of healing and conversion are reported every year.

More Marian prayers

Texts and sources

Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes: F. X. Lasance, With God (1911), Devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary, public domain (Wikisource).
Scripture: John 2:3–5, Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.
Our Lady’s words are translated for this page from the Occitan reported by St. Bernadette.
The novena themes and other prayers were written for this page.