Women in History: A New Appreciation of Saint Bernadette

 For Holy Women’s History Month, Sarah Pedrozo shares how her visit to Lourdes gave her new insight into the young visionary, Saint Bernadette.

A few years ago, my parish announced the opportunity to go to Lourdes on a pilgrimage. Since visiting this special site had always been a dream of my mother’s, we both signed up to go.

The Story of the Blessed Mother’s Visit to Lourdes

We were already fairly familiar with the basic story of the apparition at Lourdes: how a beautiful lady had unexpectedly appeared in a small cave to young Bernadette Soubirous in 1858, when she was out gathering firewood with her sister and a friend.

Bernadette saw the beautiful apparition a total of 18 times, but it wasn’t until the next-to-last visit that the heavenly visitor revealed who she was. In most of Our Lady’s visits, the visionary who sees her endures skepticism and derision, and even some outright hostility. This was Bernadette’s case, as well, and is not an unusual or even unreasonable reaction. After all, why would anyone automatically assume heavenly royalty was suddenly visiting, right out of the blue? It was much more likely that this young girl was lying, or even just unwell.

But we know how this story ends. Bernadette was not lying or unwell. In fact, the primary reason for Our Lady’s visit to Lourdes was to bring about the health and healing of the Lord. Bernadette consistently emphasized that the message of the woman surrounded by light was “prayer and penance.” It was not an earthshattering, groundbreaking, or even new message. The church, and everyone in it, is always called to continual conversion.

Eventually, the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes was confirmed by the Catholic Church and the chapel that Our Lady had requested was built. Over time, the place has become a worldwide destination for millions of travelers each year. People come from all over to pray at the grotto where Mary stood and Bernadette knelt, and to bathe in the spring waters unearthed during the apparitions, and to find hope and healing, both internally and sometimes also exteriorly.

A Surprising Connection to Saint Bernadette

When my mother and I journeyed to France on the parish pilgrimage, I fully expected to be amazed by or to at least find a connection to Our Lady of Lourdes, since it was Mother Mary’s presence there that made this a special place. I was surprised, then, that I left Lourdes feeling much more connected to Bernadette than to Mary.

As I mentioned above, when I arrived at Lourdes, I already knew the basic story of what had happened there. But when I walked the place where Bernadette had knelt, looked at the rushing river that runs near the grotto, and most especially, peered into the truly awful one-room hovel Bernadette’s family lived in, I felt that I knew this young saint.

Bernadette had been a sickly baby and never enjoyed robust health. In fact, she was only 4’7” inches tall, likely due to all the sickness she experienced as a very young child. Even as a teenager, she suffered from asthma and often had trouble breathing.

Looking at the cold river near the grotto, I could see why Bernadette had stopped and tried to find a place to cross without getting her feet wet. The grotto is in a damp, moist place, and I would guess that wet feet, during a cold February in France, would easily lead to sickness, especially in a person with a weakened immune system. She was not being picky when she stopped to take her shoes off, she was trying to be prudent and thoughtful. Sickness at this time, in a family already so poor, would have been a big problem.

And then, hearing the story of her family’s slow but steady financial decline. Bernadette’s father was a miller, and the first few years of her life were quite happy. But the mill failed and the family was forced to move several times, each time into poorer, worse locations. By the time of Bernadette’s visions, the whole family was living in a one-room basement, called le cachot (“the dungeon”), which had been used as a jail until 1824.

Looking into this small room in Lourdes, I could only imagine how desperate Bernadette’s mother must have felt, how unhappy her father was. It was a place of misery. The one fireplace in the room, the guide told us, did not ventilate well, so the smoke would have come back into the room. How Bernadette must have struggled to breathe, when she already wrestled with asthma.

But perhaps the worst part was to learn that Bernadette’s aunt, who lived nearby, was quite wealthy. The guide told us that her aunt would sometimes have Bernadette over and give her special things to eat. I know this was a different time, but it’s difficult to believe that this same aunt couldn’t have done a little more to help the family. It seems that a few extended members of the family were in a position to help, but didn’t. Seeing the way some members of her family treated other members of her family, particularly when they were in such need, was difficult.

A New Appreciation of a Young Saint

I left Lourdes with a much greater appreciation of this small, young saint. How determined she was, how resolute in carrying out the requests of “the beautiful lady,” and accepting the derision and suffering that came with that obedience. I was also impressed by her family’s faith. They each carried the weight of deep poverty, yet they clung to God for their help. And help them, He did, by sending His holy mother. The Soubirous family was not unseen. God was well aware of their problems, and He was moved to come to their aid, not by providing riches and wealth, but by giving His own presence.

The Soubirous family did not grow rich from the apparitions; that was not the reason for them, nor God’s will, obviously. Yet healthier, much more appropriate living accommodations were found for them. Bernadette entered the Sisters of Charity convent at Nevers, where she lived a life of quiet contemplation, avoiding attention. Because of her weakened lungs, she eventually contracted tuberculosis and died in 1879, at the age of 35, while praying the Rosary.

On our way out of Lourdes, before our group moved on, I stopped at one of the stalls in Lourdes and bought a big, colorful blanket. It has hung on the wall of my office for many years, and never fails to remind me of the little saint who battled sickness, disease, poverty and misery, yet who, with the help of heaven, nevertheless triumphed.

No doubt today, free from sickness, released from poverty, enjoying the richness and fullness of the Beatific Vision, Bernadette would say the same words to us that she said on earth, “We are not promised happiness in this world, but in the next.”

Saint Bernadette, pray for us!

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Copyright 2026 Sarah Pedrozo
Images: (banner) Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy Stock Photo; Charnoff, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons