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Between 11th February and 16th July 1858, the Blessed Virgin (Our Lady of Lourdes) appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous. During the 9th apparition, she followed the instructions of the Blessed Virgin and discovered a source of water at the foot of the cave of Massabielle, Lourdes.

Thursday 11 February 1858

With her sister Marie (1846-1892), known as Toinette, and her friend Jeanne Abadie, Bernadette went to gather bones and dead wood alongside the Gave. Due to her precarious state of health, she hesitated before crossing the freezing Gave, unlike her sister and her friend. Surprised to hear a noise she raised her head towards the cave of Massabielle: “I saw a lady dressed in white: she wore a white dress with a white veil also, a blue belt and a yellow rose on each foot.” Bernadette recited a prayer and the lady disappeared.

Sunday 14 February 1858

Bernadette’s parents had forbidden her to go to the cave, but due to her insistence, they gave in. Once there, she recited her rosaries and saw the lady reappear. She threw holy water over her and the lady smiled, bowed her head and disappeared

Thursday 18 February 1858

Bernadette, pressured by a bourgeois local, asked the lady to write down her name. The lady replied to her: “It is not necessary.” Then she added, “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next. Would you be kind enough to come here for 15 days?”

Friday 19 February 1858

Bernadette went to the cave with a lighted candle (which has since become a custom). The lady appeared briefly.

Saturday 20 February 1858

The lady taught Bernadette a personal prayer and, at the end of her vision, she felt a great sorrow.

Sunday 21 February 1858

One hundred people accompanied Bernadette. The lady appeared (to Bernadette only) and the police superintendent Jacomet interviewed her about what she had seen. Bernadette just repeated: “aquero”.

Tuesday 23 February 1858

Accompanied by 150 people, Bernadette went to the cave where the apparition revealed a secret which was “for her alone”.

Wednesday 24 February 1858

The lady conveyed a message to Bernadette: “Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for the sinners. Kiss the ground as an act of penance for sinners!”

Thursday 25 February 1858

Three hundred people were present. Bernadette explained that the lady asked her to drink from the spring: “Go and drink at the fountain and wash yourself there. You must eat the grass which is there.” Bernadette recalled later, “I only found a bit of muddy water. On the fourth attempt I was able to drink it.” The crowd accused her of being crazy and she responded, “It’s for the sinners.”

Saturday 27 February 1858

Eight hundred people accompanied Bernadette. The apparition remained silent and Bernadette drank the water.

Sunday 28 February 1858

Two thousand people witnessed the ecstasy of Bernadette as she kissed the ground, down on her knees. Judge Ribes threatened her with prison.

Monday 1 March 1858

Bernadette was accompanied by 1,500 people, one of whom, for the first time, was a priest. The same night, Catherine Latapie, a friend of Bernadette’s, went to the cave and dipped her dislocated arm in the spring water: her arm and her hand regained full movement.

Tuesday 2 March 1858

The crowd is very important. The lady asked Bernadette, “Go tell the priests to come here in procession and to build a chapel here.” Abbot Peyramale, priest of Lourdes, wanted to know the name of the lady and, in addition, to ask for specific proof: he wanted to see wild roses in flower at the cave in the depths of winter.

Wednesday 3 March 1858

3,000 people accompanied Bernadette. The vision didn’t appear. Later, Bernadette felt a calling and returned to the cave. She asked the name of the lady, but all she did was smile. The priest Peyramale insisted, “If the lady really wants a chapel, she must tell us her name and make the roses flower at the cave.”

Thursday 4 March 1858

Around 8,000 people waited for a miracle at the cave. The vision was silent. For 20 days Bernadette didn’t feel a calling to go to the cave.

Thursday 25 March 1858

The apparition showed herself to Bernadette and said, in Bigourdan patois – the language that Bernadette spoke – whilst raising her eyes to the sky and joining hands: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Bernadette remembered these words, which she didn’t understand, and retold them to the priest, who was disconcerted. Four years earlier, Pope Pie IX had made the expression the Immaculate Conception a dogma and Bernadette was said to have ignored that she represented the Blessed Virgin Mary. The rose never flowered.

Wednesday 7 April 1858

Doctor Douzous stated that the flame of the candle, held by Bernadette during the apparition, had surrounded her hand without burning it.

Thursday 16 July 1858

The last apparition. A fence forbade access to the cave. Bernadette crossed the Gave and saw the Blessed Virgin Mary exactly how she had found her in front of the cave.

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