The apparitions of Lourdes are Marian apparitions manifested to a fourteen year old girl, St. Bernadette Soubirous, who was traveling with her sister and a friend to the Massabielle area near the town of Lourdes to gather firewood. As she was trying to take off her stockings to try to cross the stream to the Grotto, she heard a noise that sounded like a gust of wind, she looked up at the Grotto: “I saw a lady dressed in white: she was wearing a white dress, a white veil, a blue belt and a yellow rose on each foot. It was the first apparition on Thursday, February 11, 1858.
The priest of Lourdes wants to know the name of the Lady, Bernadette asks her name to the Lady who answers “Que soy era l’immaculada Concepciou” (I am the Immaculate Conception). Bernadette did not understand, she did not know these words. She goes to repeat the sentence to the priest and to not forget it, repeats it all the way. Father Peyramale was convinced that Bernadette could not have made it up.
Saint Bernadette is known to intercede for those who suffer and sinners, and it is certain that God does not punish people with illnesses, and the proof of this is Saint Bernadette, who suffered from illnesses and received apparitions from the Virgin and had the grace to see her more than once. This proves that illness is not a punishment, just as Christ suffered and died for us.
18 Apparitions of Our Lady of St. Bernadette of 14 years in Lourdes, from February 11 to July 16, 1858. 18 times she placed the feet of the Immaculate Mother on the earth, she blessed us with countless cures and conversions . The shrine is today one of the most important sites for pilgrimage and prayer, asking for the intercession of the heavenly Mother the Virgin Mary and St. Bernadette Soubirou, and the blessing by the miraculous waters of Lourdes.
The novena begins on February 3 and ends on February 11, the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes! The novena is a prayer for 9 days.
For each day of the novena
- Prayer: Our Father – Hail Mary – Glory to the Father
- Meditate today
- Your intentions
- A rosary (10 Hail Marys)
- Novena prayer.
- Go to Mass and take Holy Communion on February 11.
It is also advisable to obtain the sacrament of reconciliation or confession before the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Note: the novena prayer changes each year by the official shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.
Novena of prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes
Mary, you appeared to Bernadette in the hollow of the rock.
In the cold and darkness of winter, You brought the warmth, the light and the beauty of a presence. In the hollow of our dark lives, in the hollow of the world where Evil is powerful, bring us hope, restore our trust!
You, who are the Immaculate Conception, come to the aid of the sinners that we are. Give us the humility of conversion, the courage of penance. Teach us to pray for all people.
Guide us to the sources of real life. Make us pilgrims in action within your Church. Increase in us a hunger for the Eucharist, the bread for the journey, the bread of life.
In you, Mary, the Holy Spirit works wonders: by his power he set you close to the Father, in the glory of your Son, alive forever. Look with tenderness on the miseries of our bodies and our hearts. Shine for all, like a soft light, at the hour of our death.
With Bernadette, we pray to you, Mary, with the simplicity of children.
Let us, like her, enter into the spirit of the Beatitudes.
Then, from here below, we can begin to know the joy of the Kingdom and sing with you: Magnificat! Glory to you, Virgin Mary, happy servant of the Lord, Mother of God, home of the Holy Spirit!
Prayer of Pope Benedict XVI to Our Lady of Lourdes