A novena to St. Bernadette is nine days of prayer asking the intercession of St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844–1879), the poor, sickly, uneducated girl to whom the Virgin Mary appeared eighteen times at the grotto of Massabielle, in Lourdes, in 1858, and who later became a nun and bore long illness with patience. It is often prayed from April 7 to 15, ending on the eve of her feast on April 16, or from February 2 to 10, before the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes on February 11. It is a good novena for the sick, for the poor and for the grace of humility. Each day joins a moment of her story with a passage of Scripture.
A short prayer to St. Bernadette, written for this page:
St. Bernadette, Our Lady chose you because you were poor and little.
Pray for me in my need: (name your intention).
Obtain for me humility, a love of prayer and patience in suffering. Amen.
How to pray the novena
- Make the Sign of the Cross and name your intention.
- Read the passage and reflection for the day.
- Pray the short prayer to St. Bernadette above.
- End with a decade of the Rosary, or an Our Father, a Hail Mary and a Glory Be.
Day 1: Poor and little
Bernadette’s family was so poor that in 1857 they lived in a single damp room, a former jail cell called the cachot. Jesus said (Luke 6:20, Douay-Rheims):
And he, lifting up his eyes on his disciples, said: Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Intention: for the poor and the homeless.
Day 2: A lady in the grotto
On February 11, 1858, gathering firewood by the river, Bernadette saw in the grotto a young lady dressed in white with a blue sash. Apocalypse 12:1 (Douay-Rheims):
And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars:
Intention: for a deeper love of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Day 3: The Rosary
At each apparition Bernadette prayed the Rosary, and the Lady passed the beads of her own rosary through her fingers. Luke 1:28 (Douay-Rheims):
And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
Intention: for families who pray the Rosary together.
Day 4: Penance
During the eighth apparition the Lady repeated, “Penance, penance, penance,” and asked Bernadette to pray for sinners. Matthew 4:17 (Douay-Rheims):
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Intention: for the conversion of sinners.
Day 5: The spring
On February 25 the Lady told Bernadette to drink from a spring; she dug in the mud, and a spring began to flow which has never dried up. Jesus said (John 4:14, Douay-Rheims):
But the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting.
Intention: for the sick who go to Lourdes and for all the sick.
Day 6: “I am the Immaculate Conception”
On March 25, 1858, when Bernadette asked her name, the Lady answered, “I am the Immaculate Conception,” words the girl did not understand. Canticle of Canticles 4:7 (Douay-Rheims):
Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.
Intention: for purity of heart. See the Immaculate Conception.
Day 7: Questioned and doubted
The police, the priests and the curious questioned Bernadette again and again, but she never changed her story. 1 Corinthians 1:27–29 (Douay-Rheims):
But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong.
And the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, hath God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to nought things that are:
That no flesh should glory in his sight.
Intention: for all who are mocked or doubted for their faith.
Day 8: The convent at Nevers
In 1866 Bernadette entered the Sisters of Charity at Nevers, where she worked in the infirmary and suffered from asthma, tuberculosis and a painful tumor of the knee. When asked what she did all day, she answered that her job was to be ill. St. Paul wrote (Colossians 1:24, Douay-Rheims):
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church:
Intention: for the chronically ill and those who care for them.
Day 9: Heaven
Bernadette died on April 16, 1879, at thirty-five, praying the Hail Mary. Her body, found incorrupt, rests in a glass reliquary at Nevers. She was canonized in 1933. St. Paul wrote (2 Corinthians 4:17, Douay-Rheims):
For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.
The prayer of the feast of the Apparition at Lourdes, from the 1916 daily missal:
O God, who, by the immaculate conception of the Virgin didst prepare a worthy dwelling place for thy Son, we suppliantly beseech thee that by celebrating the apparition of the same Virgin we may obtain health of soul and body. Through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God world without end. Amen.
Frequently asked questions
When is St. Bernadette’s feast day?
April 16, the day of her death in 1879. (In France, February 18.)
When should I pray the novena to St. Bernadette?
From April 7 to 15, or from February 2 to 10 before the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, or at any time of need.
What is St. Bernadette the patron saint of?
The sick, the poor, people ridiculed for their faith, and Lourdes.
More prayers
- St. Bernadette prayer
- Our Lady of Lourdes
- Immaculate Conception novena
- Prayer for the sick
- Novena to Mary
- Novenas
Texts and sources
- Luke 6:20 and 1:28; Apocalypse 12:1; Matthew 4:17; John 4:14; Canticle of Canticles 4:7; 1 Corinthians 1:27–29; Colossians 1:24; 2 Corinthians 4:17 (Douay-Rheims).
- The Mass Every Day of the Year (1916), The Apparition at Lourdes (February 11), Collect, public domain (archive.org).