One of the first to discover what was taking palce was the parish priest of Lourdes, Fr Peyramale. On at least three occasions Bernadette went at the instruction of Our Lady, with requests for a chapel and processions, and with the answer to his question of who this mysterious lady was; ‘I am the Immaculate Conception’. After initial understandable skepticism, Fr Peyramale was convinced of the truthfulness of Bernadette, and of the apparitions. As news of the apparitions spread throughout France and beyond, Bernadette became an object of scrutiny and popular interest. Although the Soubirous family were rehoused, Bernadette’s life became unendurable and at the suggestion of Fr Peyramale, she left her family to live with the Sisters of Charity in the town hospice.
The hospice is now a part of the town hospital, on the edge of the town centre near the railway station. None of the buildings present now are contemporary with Bernadette’s time here, but the Chapel is built on the same spot as its predecessor, and a display retells the story of Bernadette’s time here in this refuge, during which she discovered her vocation to enter the Order. As a boarder, access to Bernadette was governed by the sisters, who were already known to her as they had prepared her for her first communion. Bernadette was 16 years old when she arrived at the hospice, and remained there until 1866. During this time she learnt to read and write, and wrote her first account of the apparitions. Outside, in 1862 the apparitions were declared genuine after investigation by the bishop of Tarbres, and building began on the first chapel. Bernadette was invited, much against her personal desire, to attend the blessing of the crypt in May 1866.
A few weeks later on 4th July 1866, she made her first and last journey by train to the distant town of Nevers to enter the novitiate of the Sisters of Charity. She was professed as sister Marie-Bernard, and spent the rest of her life in prayer and caring for the sick until her death on 16 April 1879.
A visit to the hospice takes us away from the Lourdes of hotels, gift shops, pilgrims and processions, and affords us a glimpse of the escape that Bernadette sought from publicity and public intrusion. She wanted pilgrims to come to Lourdes not to see a visionary and religious celebrity but to fulfil the message given her by Our Lady – to make prayer and do penance. Lourdes was not about Bernadette, but about Our Lord, and Our Lady’s call to conversion and spiritual renewal.
Any pilgrim who makes the effort to visit the convent at Nevers which was Bernadette’s last home is rewarded by the extraordinary peace and beauty of her incorrupt mortal remains, which were discovered during the process of her canonization. Her body was removed from her grave, and placed in a glass casket for public veneration in the Convent chapel. The shrine exudes an air of calm. At last Bernadette found rest and peace after a life which was troubled with unimaginable suffering, emotional, personal, and physical – her cross of sacrifice became the crown of glory.
The Last Journeys of Saint Bernadette
The apparitions of Our Lady to Bernadette took place at the grotto of Massabielle over a five month period, beginning with the first appearance of the mysterious lady on Thursday, 11th February 1858, and ending on 16th July 1858. The apparitions varied in their length, and in the nature of the encounter between Bernadette and Our Lady. When they began, Bernadette was alone – by the end there were thousands of people present. Sometimes Our Lady had a message – that a chapel should be built, and people come in a procession, that we must pray and do penance for our sins. Sometimes Bernadette came simply to pray. Slowly but surely the significance of what was happening spread throughout the town of Lourdes, across France and throughout the world.
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