Bernadette Soubirous

Saint Bernadette
Soubirous c. 1858
Virgin
Born	Bernadette Soubirous 7 January 1844 Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, Kingdom of France
Died	16 April 1879(1879-04-16) (aged 35) Nevers, Nièvre, France
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Beatified	14 June 1925[1], Rome by Pope Pius XI[1]
Canonized	8 December 1933[1], Rome[1] by Pope Pius XI[1]
Major shrine	Saint Gildard (Espace Bernadette Soubirous Nevers), Nevers
Feast	18 February (France) 16 April (elsewhere)

Bernadette Soubirous (/ˌbɜːrnəˈdɛt ˌsuːbiˈruː/; French: [bɛʁnadɛt subiʁu]; Occitan: Bernadeta Sobirós [beɾnaˈðetɔ suβiˈɾus]; 7 January 1844 – 16 April 1879), also known as Bernadette of Lourdes, was the firstborn daughter of a miller from Lourdes (Lorda in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France, and is best known for experiencing apparitions of a "young lady" who asked for a chapel to be built at the nearby cave-grotto. These apparitions occurred between 11 February and 16 July 1858, and the young lady who appeared to her identified herself as the "Immaculate Conception".

After a canonical investigation, Soubirous's reports were eventually declared "worthy of belief" on 18 February 1862, and the Marian apparition became known as Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1866, Soubirous joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers at their convent in Nevers where she spent the last years of her life. Her body is said by the Catholic Church to remain internally incorrupt.^[2] The grotto where the apparitions occurred later went on to become a major pilgrimage site and Marian shrine known as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, attracting around five million pilgrims of all denominations each year.

Pope Pius XI beatified Bernadette Soubirous on 14 June 1925 and canonized her on 8 December 1933. Her feast day, initially specified as 18 February – the day Mary promised to make her happy, not in this life, but in the other – is now observed in most places on the date of her death, 16 April.^[3]