Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11

MEMORIAL OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES

“World Day of the Sick”

 
On this day in 1858, the Virgin Mary appeared for the first time to 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous. In all, between February and July, she received 18 apparitions of the Our Lady. During the final apparition, she told young Bernadette, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”  Today, the shrine at Lourdes, France is one of the most visited Marian sites in the world. It is renowned as a place of healing. In 1992, St. John Paul II designated the Memorial as “World Day of the Sick” a special time of prayer and of offering one’s suffering for the good of the Church and of reminding us to see in our sick brothers and sisters, the face of Christ, who, by suffering, dying, and rising, achieved the salvation of humankind.