BERNADETTE'S parents were very poor. They lived near Lourdes, in France.
One day, in 1858, while Bernadette was gathering firewood, a beautiful Lady stood in a cave before her. She was dressed in blue and white, and there were roses at her feet. She smiled at Bernadette and asked her to say the rosary with her.
Bernadette saw the Lady eighteen times. Once the Lady said, "I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in heaven."
Large crowds followed Bernadette to the grotto to say the rosary with her. They could not see the Lady.
The Lady asked Bernadette to scrape the earth. The miraculous spring of Lourdes started to flow. Many people have been cured from this water.
When Bernadette asked the Lady her name, the Lady looked up to heaven and said, "I am the Immaculate Conception." Her message was: "Pray for sinners." She asked that a chapel be built near the grotto. Today this spot is a great shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Later, Bernadette became a nun. Her life was one of joy. She died, at the age of thirty-six.