St Bernadette of Lourdes biography
Profile
St. Bernadette of Lourdes was a saint born on January 7, 1844 in Lourdes, France. She received several visions from the Virgin Mary starting in 1858. When she reported these visions, civil authorities attempted to force her to recant her accounts. She refused, and word spread about the cave she had found with supposed miracle healing springs. Napolean III’s wife helped her achieve her vision to build a church at the cave. Lourdes emerged as a pilgrimage site for worshippers from around the world. She died on April 16, 1879 and was canonized as a saint in 1933 by Pope Pius XI.