In 1844, Bernadette was born to a poor family in Lourdes, France. She grew up the oldest of nine children and was ill throughout her life. At the age of fourteen, Bernadette still had not made her first Holy Communion but was known to be very virtuous. It was at this time that she began to have visions of the Virgin Mary at a nearby grotto. She visited the apparition for a fortnight, during which a spring of healing water sprung forth.
Much of her community gave her a hard time and looked at her with skepticism, but Bernadette insisted that a chapel be built in the grotto. Surrounded by controversy over her recounting of the immaculate experience, Bernadette petitioned to leave to join the Sisters of Notre Dame of Nevers. Falling back into especially ill health, Bernadette was able to be an infirmarian and sacristan within the order before her death in 1879.
Bernadette’s chapel, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, is now one of the world’s most popular pilgrimage sites. Widely remembered for her strong faith, Bernadette is honored as the patron saint of of illness, people ridiculed for their piety, poverty, shepherds, shepherdesses, and Lourdes, France; her feast day is celebrated on April 16th.