ALL OUR LOVE AND PRAYERS
FOR OUR BELOVED HOLY FATHER,
ROCK OF THE CHURCH,
ON HIS 85th BIRTHDAY.
AD MULTOS ANNOS, SANCTE PATER!
Monday, April 16, Second Week of Easter
ST. MARIE BERNARDE (BERNADETTE) SOUBIROUS (France, 1844-1879), Visionary and Virgin
One of the most popular of modern saints, Bernadette was a virtuous and sickly peasant girl of 14 who had not even made her first Communion when 'a lady appeared to her on February 11, 1848, in a rocky grotto beside the river Gave in the Pyrenean village of Lourdes. She saw her 17 times more. The Lady identified herself on one of the earlier apparitions, 'I am the Immaculate Conception', a term which meant nothing to the unlettered girl. [Pope Pius IX would not declare the dogma of the Immaculate Conception until 1858). The Marian apparitions at Lourdes attracted worldwide attention. After initial skepticism, the Church gave credence to her story, and she soon was hounded for her fame. She entered a convent in Nevers where she worked humbly despite her chronic sickliness and professed her vows before she died at age 35. Meanwhile, Lourdes had grown into the most visited shrine on earth. Bernadette was canonized in 1935. When her body was exhumed before her beatification, it was found to be incorrupt and is venerated at the convent in Nevers.
Readings for today's Mass: usccb.org/bible/readings/041612.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
The Holy Father met with
- The Bishops of Bavaria
- H.E. Horst Seehofer, Minister President of Bavaria
- A delegation from Bavaria who came to greet him on his birthday.
No OR today.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 16/04/2012 15:36]