On February 11 the Church keeps the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, commemorating the day in 1858 when the 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous had her first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady appeared to St Bernadette on 18 separate occasions over the following weeks, but it was during her ninth appearance, on February 25, that she told Bernadette to drink and wash herself.
At the time all Bernadette could see was a muddy puddle, but after some effort, she was able to scoop up enough clean water to drink. The following day a spring appeared in that spot. Since then, millions of pilgrims have come to bathe in the waters Bernadette discovered, and around 7,000 sick people have attributed their miraculous recoveries to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes.
