† WICKER R. BVM LOURDES APPARITION ENGRAVING SILVER COPPER ICON PLAQUE FRANCE †

Description

BVM - BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS
LOURDES APPARITION
Finest Quality
Silverplated Copper ICON PLAQUE on WOOD FRAME
" ENGRAVING by WICKER R
."
made in FRANCE.
DIMENSIONS:
290
X
160
X
15
mm.
W.
545
grs.
Lourdes apparitions
Saint
Bernadette Soubirous
The
Marian
Apparitions at Lourdes
were reported in 1858 by
Bernadette Soubirous
, a 14-year-old miller's daughter from the town of
Lourdes
in southern
France
.
From 11 February to 16 July 1858, she reported 18
apparitions
of "a Lady". Soubirous described the lady as wearing a white veil and a blue girdle; she had a golden rose on each foot and held a rosary of pearls. Despite initial skepticism from the
Clergy
, these claims were eventually declared to be worthy of belief after a
canonical
investigation, and the apparition is known as
Our Lady of Lourdes
.
According to Soubirous, her visions occurred at the
grotto
of Massabielle, just outside Lourdes. On 16 July 1858, Soubirous visited the grotto for the last time and said: "I have never seen her so beautiful before."
[1]
[
page needed
]
On 18 January 1862, the local bishop declared: "The Virgin Mary did appear indeed to Bernadette Soubirous."
[2]
In 1958,
Pope Pius XII
issued the
encyclical
Le pèlerinage de Lourdes
("The pilgrimage to Lourdes") on the 100th anniversary of the apparitions.
Pope John Paul II
visited Lourdes three times;
Pope Benedict XVI
visited Lourdes on 15 September 2008 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the apparitions.
Soubirous was canonized a saint in 1933 by Pope Pius XI.
Part of a
series
on the
Mariology
of the
Catholic Church
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by
Josef Moroder-Lusenberg
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February 1858
[
edit
]
The 1st appearance (11 February)
[
edit
]
Our Lady of Lourdes
: An artwork depicting the
Blessed Virgin Mary
appearing on the grotto, in front of
Bernadette Soubirous
.
On Thursday, 11 February 1858, a week before Lent would begin on
Ash Wednesday
, 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous was out gathering firewood with her sister Toinette and a friend at the
grotto
of Massabielle outside Lourdes. There, she reportedly had the first of 18 visions of what she termed "a small young lady", not in
French
but in the regional
Occitan
:
uo petito damizelo
, standing in a niche in the rock. Her sister and the friend stated that they had seen nothing.
On realizing that she alone, and not her companions, had seen the apparition, Soubirous asked her sister not to tell anyone what had happened. Toinette, however, was unable to keep silent, and told their mother, Louise Soubirous. Because their mother had suspected the children were lying, both girls received a beating, and Soubirous was forbidden to return to the grotto again. A few days passed and Soubirous asked for permission to go again with her siblings and the permission was granted.
[3]
The 2nd appearance (14 February)
[
edit
]
The second time was the following Sunday. I went back because I felt myself interiorly impelled. My mother had forbidden me to go. After
High Mass
, the two other girls and myself went to ask my mother again. She did not want to let us go, she said that she was afraid that I should fall in the water; she was afraid that I would not be back for
Vespers
. I promised that I would. Then she gave me permission to go. I went to the Parish Church to get a little bottle of
holy water
, to throw over the Vision, if I were to see her at the grotto. When we arrived, we all took our
rosaries
and we knelt down to say them. I had hardly finished the first decade when I saw the same Lady. Then I started to throw holy water in her direction, and at the same time I said that if she came from God she was to stay, but if not, she must go. She started to smile, and bowed; and the more I sprinkled her with holy water, the more she smiled and bowed her head and the more I saw her make signs. ...Then I went on saying my rosary. When I had finished it she disappeared and we came back to Vespers.
[4]
Troubled by the notion that the apparition might represent an evil spirit, Soubirous used the holy water as a test. A further and positive reassuring sign was the apparition's beautiful bare feet; evil apparitions (even when taking
human form
) were believed to have
cloven hooves
or animal paws.
[5]
The 3rd appearance (18 February)
[
edit
]
The Apparition did not speak until the third appearance, and therefore its identity was a matter of considerable speculation. Pious villagers Jeanne-Marie Milhet and Antoinette Peyret, on hearing Soubirous' description of the apparition, thought it was the returning spirit of one of their friends, who had died a few months before. Although not part of Catholic doctrine, the concept of the
revenant
was deeply rooted in
Pyrenean
superstition. According to tradition, revenants rarely spoke, but communicated their messages in writing, and so Milhet and Peyret furnished Soubirous with paper, a pen, and an inkpot to take with her, in case the apparition should make use of them.
[6]
On her third visit, she said that the "beautiful lady" asked her to return to the grotto every day for 15 days. At first her mother had forbidden her to go, but Soubirous persuaded her mother to allow her. Soubirous said that the lady told her that she did not promise to make her happy in this world, but in the next.
[7]
Although she spoke in
Occitan
, the regional language that Bernadette (whose French was poor) used, the apparition used a remarkably formal form of the language in her request: "Would you have the goodness to come here for fifteen days?" (
Occitan
:
Boulet aoue ra gracia de bié aci penden quinze dias?
;
French
:
Voulez-vous me faire la grâce de venir ici pendant quinze jours?
). The significance of this politeness was not lost on the observers. It would be very unusual for anyone to adopt this formal form of address when speaking to a penniless, working-class peasant girl such as Bernadette.
[8]
The 4th appearance (19 February)
[
edit
]
The
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes
Armed with a lighted candle for protection, Soubirous came to the grotto. This originated the custom of carrying lighted candles to the grotto. Eight people were present including Soubirous's mother and two of her aunts, one of whom, Aunt Bernarde, was her godmother and the most influential member of her mother's family.
[9]
Soubirous's story caused a sensation with the townspeople, who were divided in their opinions on whether or not Soubirous was telling the truth. Soon a large number of people followed her on her daily journey, some out of curiosity and others who firmly believed that they were witnessing a miracle.
The 5th appearance (20 February)
[
edit
]
Thirty people were present. Soubirous reported later that the lady had taught her a prayer, which she said every day of her life, but never wrote down or repeated to anyone. By this time, the news was spreading to other towns, and many people assumed that Soubirous's lady was the
Virgin Mary
.
[10]
The 6th appearance (21 February)
[
edit
]
Over 100 people were present, and the apparition said to her: "You will pray to God for sinners."
[11]
[12]
Afterwards Soubirous was interrogated by Dominique Jacomet, the police commissioner. Her father, François Soubirous, eventually assured the commissioner that the affair would cease.
[13]
The 7th appearance (23 February)
[
edit
]
Lourdes Basilica of the Apparitions
About 150 people were present. Jean-Baptiste Estrade (a tax inspector), Duffo (a court official), and the officers from the
garrison
were present. Soubirous said later that the lady had told her a secret, which was only for her alone; this secret was never revealed to anyone.
[10]
The 8th appearance (24 February)
[
edit
]
About 250 people were present. The message of the lady was: "Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners! Kiss the ground as an act of penance for sinners!"
[10]
The 9th appearance (25 February)
[
edit
]
[The Lady] told her that she should go and drink at the fountain and wash herself. Seeing no fountain I went to drink at the
Gave
. She said it was not there; she pointed with her finger that she was to go in under the rock. She went, and she found a puddle of water which was more like mud, and the quantity was so small that she could hardly gather a little in the hollow of her hand. Nevertheless she obeyed, and started scratching the ground; after doing that she was able to take some. The water was so dirty that three times she threw it away. The fourth time she was able to drink it. She made her eat grass growing in the same place where she had drunk; once only; she didn't know why. Then the Vision disappeared and she went home.
[14]
Soubirous was interrogated again. The
spring
reportedly began to flow a day later.
The 10th appearance (27 February)
[
edit
]
About 800 people were present.
The 11th appearance (28 February)
[
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]
Over 1,000 people were present. Soubirous was questioned by Judge Ribes afterwards.
March 1858
[
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]
The 12th appearance (1 March)
[
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]
There were almost 1,500 people present. Local housewife Catherine Latapie, nine months pregnant, who had a paralysis of the
ulnar nerve
in one arm following an accident, reported regaining full movement after bathing her arm in the spring. Simultaneously, she went into labor and had to leave almost immediately to give birth. She gave an account of these events to local physician Dr. Pierre Romaine Dozous, who began to collect information on healings at the spring.
The 13th appearance (2 March)
[
edit
]
The lady commanded Soubirous: "Go, tell the priests to come here in procession and to build a
chapel
here."
[15]
[12]
Accompanied by her two aunts, Soubirous went to ask
Father Peyramale
; he forbade her to go to the grotto, and dismissed her. Peyramale had ordered the priests to have nothing to do with the grotto, for it was the general practice of the clergy to discourage religious visionaries.
[11]
Soubirous was determined and returned with one of the priest's friends to ask again. After Soubirous was questioned before the parish clergy and dismissed, the parish priests could not agree on what course to take.
The 14th appearance (3 March)
[
edit
]
Previously, Father Peyramale had told Soubirous that the requests for the procession and chapel could not be fulfilled unless and until the lady's name was known. On this occasion, Soubirous asked for the lady's name; according to Soubirous, the lady only smiled.
The 15th appearance (4 March)
[
edit
]
Over 9,000 people were present.
The third time I went to see M. le
Curé
,
[16]
to tell him that a Lady had ordered me to go and say to the priests that they were to have a chapel built there, he looked at me for a moment, and then he said to me in a rather gruff tone, 'Who is this lady?' I answered that I did not know. Then he commissioned me to ask her name and to come and tell him. The next day when I arrived at the grotto I recited my
rosary
and then asked her, from M. le Curé what her name was, but all she did was to smile. When I got back I went to M. le Curé to tell him that I discharged his commission, and her only response was her smile; then he said she was laughing at me and that I would do well not to go to her again. But, I could not help going.
[14]
I came back for a fortnight. The vision appeared every day, except one Monday [22 February] and one Friday [26 February]. She repeated to me several times that I was to tell the priests they were to build a Chapel there, and I was to go to the fountain to wash, and that I was to pray for sinners. During this fortnight, she told me three secrets which she forbade me to tell anyone. I have been faithful until now.
[14]
The 16th appearance (25 March)
[
edit
]
Our Lady of Lourdes
: Mary appearing at
Lourdes
with
rosary beads
. The words on her halo are:
French
:
Je suis l'Immaculée conception
(I am the
Immaculate Conception
).
[17]
I went every day for a fortnight, and each day I asked her who she was–and this petition always made her smile. After the fortnight I asked her three times consecutively. She always smiled. At last I tried for the fourth time. She stopped smiling. With her arms down, she raised her eyes to heaven and then, folding her hands over her breast she said, "I am the
Immaculate Conception
." Then I went back to M. le Curé to tell him that she had said she was the Immaculate Conception, and he asked was I absolutely certain. I said yes, and so as not to forget the words, I had repeated them all the way home.
[18]
Peyramale decided to go to
Tarbes
to visit the bishop. The bishop determined that Peyramale should remain away from the grotto.
April 1858
[
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]
The 17th appearance (7 April)
[
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]
Dr. Pierre Romaine Dozous, the town physician, originally watched the apparitions from a skeptical viewpoint. He believed Soubirous, whom he knew well, was in her right mind aside from the apparitions.
He reported:
Bernadette seemed to be even more absorbed than usual in the Appearance upon which her gaze was riveted. I witnessed, as did also every one else there present, the fact which I am about to narrate. She was on her knees saying with fervent devotion the prayers of her Rosary which she held in her left hand while in her right was a large blessed candle, alight. The child was just beginning to make the usual ascent on her knees when suddenly she stopped and, her right hand joining her left, the flame of the big candle passed between the fingers of the latter. Though fanned by a fairly strong breeze, the flame produced no effect upon the skin which it was touching. Astonished at this strange fact, I forbade anyone there to interfere, and taking my watch in my hand, I studied the phenomenon attentively for a quarter of an hour. At the end of this time Bernadette, still in her ecstasy, advanced to the upper part of the Grotto, separating her hands. The flame thus ceased to touch her left hand. Bernadette finished her prayer and the splendour of the transfiguration left her face. She rose and was about to quit the Grotto when I asked her to show me her left hand. I examined it most carefully, but could not find the least trace of burning anywhere upon it. I then asked the person who was holding the candle to light it again and give it to me. I put it several times in succession under Bernadette's left hand but she drew it away quickly, saying 'You are burning me!'. I record this fact just as I have seen it without attempting to explain it. Many persons who were present at the time can confirm what I have said.
[18]
On 8 June 1858, the mayor of Lourdes barricaded the grotto and stationed guards to prevent public access. Visitors were fined for kneeling near the grotto or talking about the grotto.
[19]
July 1858
[
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]
The 18th appearance (16 July)
[
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]
This was the final appearance. Because the grotto was barricaded by the local government, Soubirous knelt outside the fence by the riverbank.
[7]
"I thought I was at the Grotto, at the same distance as I was the other times. All I saw was Our Lady ... She was more beautiful than ever."
[18]
Later developments
[
edit
]
The grotto reopened to the public in October 1858 by order of Emperor Louis
Napoleon III
.
[19]
Soubirous received no further apparitions after the 18th appearance (on 16 July 1858), and she did not feel any desire to visit the grotto afterwards. The people, however, kept on visiting. In 1866, Soubirous left Lourdes to join a religious order.
Several churches were eventually built at Lourdes, including the
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes
and the
Basilica of St. Pius X
.
Soubirous was
canonized
as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1933. Her Feast Day is celebrated on April 16; in France and Canada, it is celebrated on February 18.
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