A presentation on the story of Bernadette Soubirous and the famous apparitions of Lourdes in the year 1858. The talk covers what life was like in France in the mid-nineteenth century, Bernadette’s childhood suffering from poverty and illness, the eighteen visits of the mysterious lady, the call for prayer and penance, the uncovering of the spring, the advent of cures and pilgrimage, the disclosure of the lady as the Immaculate Conception, the approval of the Church, the building of the “chapel” and the organization of processions, Bernadette’s canonization, and the sanctuary today as a center of healing and conversion.
