February 11, 1858—A 14-year French girl, Marie Bernarde (“Bernadette”) Soubirous—a survivor of abject poverty, cholera, and asthma—received a vision from the Blessed Virgin Mary, urging the world toward prayer and penitence. Over the next five months she experienced another 17 such visitations, including a revelation of a miraculous spring of water.
The young girl’s visionary experiences sparked considerable skepticism from governmental and even church officials, but also enormous enthusiasm from the public. Eventually, Bernadette joined an order of nuns based in Lourdes, living out the last years of her short life with grace and good humor despite enormous pain. Fifty-four years after her death in 1879, Bernadette of Lourdes was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1943, Jennifer Jones earned a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the French peasant girl in Song of Bernadette. It was released in a period when Hollywood treated religious figures respectfully, even reverentially (Bing Crosby and Gregory Peck received Best Actor nominations in consecutive years for, respectively, Going My Way and The Keys of the Kingdom).
In a skeptical age, the shrine at Lourdes continues to attract millions of visitors, and Bernadette’s life story serves as an example of how the faith of the poor in spirit confounds the rich and powerful of the world.
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