History: St Bernadette was born the eldest of nine children into a poor family at Lourdes, France. On 11th February 1858, when she was 14, she had her first vision from the Blessed Virgin Mary. At first, Bernadette and her friends kept the visions secret but news soon spread and a further seventeen were recorded.
St Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity in Nevers where she performed routine convent and church duties as well as daily religious devotion with her congregation. From youth, she suffered severe asthma and in later life, she contracted tuberculosis of the bone. She died at the young age of 35. Her body was exhumed many years later and found not to have decomposed. It was placed in a new casket and is today displayed in the Chapel of St Bernadette, Nevers. Her Feast Day is 16th April, the day of her death.
Dear Saint Bernadette, you were chosen by Almighty God as a channel of His graces and blessings, and through your humble obedience to the requests of Our Blessed Mother Mary, you gained for us the miraculous waters of Spiritual and physical healing.
We now implore you to listen to our pleading prayers that we may be healed of our Spiritual and physical imperfections.
St Bernadette, place our petition in the hands of our Holy Mother Mary, so that she may place them at the feet of her beloved Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and He may look on us with mercy and compassion:
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Help us, O Dear Saint Bernadette to follow your example, so that irrespective of our own pain and suffering we may always be mindful of the needs of others, especially those whose sufferings are greater than ours.
As we await the Mercy of God, remind us to offer up our pain and suffering for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins and blasphemies of mankind.
Pray Saint Bernadette, that like you, we may always be obedient to the will of our Heavenly Father, and that through our prayers and humility we may bring consolation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary who have been so grievously wounded by our sins.
Holy Saint Bernadette of Lourdes, pray for us. Amen.
Say: One Decade of the Rosary and a Memorare.
… Mary conceived without sin – Pray for us who have recourse to Thee. (x3) …
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Prayers to: The Blessed Virgin Mary
Novenas to Our Lady