St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844–1879) was a poor, sickly fourteen-year-old who could barely read when the Virgin Mary appeared to her eighteen times at the grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes, France, in 1858. Through her, millions of pilgrims and countless sick people have come to Lourdes, yet she spent the rest of her short life hidden as a sister in a convent, saying that her task was “to be ill.” She is a patron of the sick and of the poor. Below are prayers to St. Bernadette for the sick and for those who care for them, for the humble and for those who suffer misunderstanding, Our Lady’s words to her, Scripture and her story.
A prayer to St. Bernadette
Written for this page:
St. Bernadette, the Virgin Mary chose you because you were poor and small.
You told her message simply and faithfully,
and you accepted sickness and obscurity with love.
Pray for me, that I may trust God in my weakness,
love Mary as you loved her and pray the Rosary with your simplicity.
Obtain for me the grace I ask: (name your intention). Amen.
A prayer for the sick
St. Bernadette, you knew constant illness and pain,
yet you offered it all to Jesus for sinners.
Pray for (name) and for all the sick who turn to Our Lady of Lourdes.
Obtain for them healing, if it is God’s will,
and always the grace of peace, patience and hope. Amen.
This prayer was written for this page. See the prayer for the sick and the prayers for the World Day of the Sick (February 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes).
A prayer for nurses and caregivers
St. Bernadette, you served as a nurse in your convent before you became a patient yourself.
Bless all nurses, caregivers and volunteers who serve the sick at Lourdes and everywhere.
Give them gentle hands, patient hearts and strength for their work. Amen.
This prayer was written for this page.
A prayer for humility
St. Bernadette, you said the Virgin used you like a broom,
and that when the work was done, the broom goes back behind the door.
Teach me to do God’s work without seeking attention,
and to be content with the hidden place he gives me. Amen.
This prayer was written for this page.
Our Lady’s words to Bernadette
During the apparitions the Lady asked for prayer and penance for sinners, asked for a chapel to be built and for people to come in procession, and told Bernadette to drink and wash at the spring, which Bernadette uncovered by digging in the mud on February 25, 1858. On February 18 she said, in the local dialect: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next.” On March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, she finally gave her name: Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Bernadette did not know what the words meant and repeated them all the way to the parish priest. Four years earlier, in 1854, Pope Pius IX had defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
Mary’s own words in the Gospel describe how God works through the lowly:
And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
At that time Jesus answered and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to the little ones.
The life of St. Bernadette
Marie-Bernarde Soubirous was born in Lourdes on January 7, 1844, the eldest child of a miller, François Soubirous, and his wife, Louise. When the mill failed, the family fell into poverty and lived in a single damp room that had once been the town jail, the cachot. Bernadette suffered from asthma, had survived cholera, and had not yet made her First Communion because she could not learn the catechism.
On February 11, 1858, while gathering firewood near the grotto of Massabielle, she saw a young lady dressed in white with a blue sash and a yellow rose on each foot, holding a rosary. Between February 11 and July 16 she saw her eighteen times. Bernadette was questioned again and again by the police, the clergy and the curious, but she never changed her account or sought any advantage from it. In 1862 the bishop of Tarbes declared that the faithful were justified in believing that the Virgin Mary had appeared to her.
In 1866 Bernadette entered the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, taking the name Sister Marie-Bernard. She worked as an assistant infirmarian and sacristan, but for most of her years in the convent she was ill, suffering from tuberculosis of the bone. She died on April 16, 1879, at the age of thirty-five. Her body, found incorrupt when it was exhumed, rests in the chapel of the convent of Saint-Gildard in Nevers. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI on December 8, 1933, the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Feast day and patronage
- Feast day: April 16 (February 18 in France). Our Lady of Lourdes is celebrated on February 11. A novena to St. Bernadette can run from April 7 to 15.
- Patron of: the sick, the poor, Lourdes, and people ridiculed for their faith.
- Symbols: a rosary, a shepherdess’s dress or the habit of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, and the grotto of Lourdes.
Frequently asked questions
When is St. Bernadette’s feast day?
April 16, the anniversary of her death. In France she is celebrated on February 18.
What is St. Bernadette the patron saint of?
The sick, the poor, Lourdes and those mocked for their faith.
Is St. Bernadette’s body incorrupt?
Her body was found remarkably preserved when it was exhumed for her beatification and rests in a glass reliquary in Nevers; a thin wax covering protects the face and hands.
What did Our Lady tell St. Bernadette?
To pray and do penance for sinners, to have a chapel built, to drink and wash at the spring, and that she was “the Immaculate Conception.”
More prayers
- Our Lady of Lourdes novena (February 11)
- Rosary prayers
- Immaculate Conception
- Miraculous Medal novena
- Catholic prayer for healing
- Patron saints of healing
- Prayers to popular saints
Texts and sources
- Scripture: Luke 1:46–48; Matthew 11:25, Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.
- Our Lady’s words to Bernadette are given in English translations made for this page from the Occitan reported in Bernadette’s accounts.
- The prayers were written for this page.