Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes
On February 11, the Church celebrates the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, recalling the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a young girl, St. Bernadette Soubirous, in Lourdes, France, in 1858. What took place in that quiet town has since become one of the Church’s most enduring signs of Mary’s maternal care and God’s healing mercy.
Over the course of eighteen apparitions, Mary appeared not to the powerful or the learned, but to a poor, sickly teenager. In doing so, she revealed something essential about the Gospel: God chooses the humble to confound the proud, and He draws close to those who suffer. When Mary identified herself as “the Immaculate Conception,” she confirmed a truth the Church had only recently proclaimed, showing once again that heaven and the Church speak with one voice.
At Lourdes, Mary directed Bernadette to a spring of water that would become a source of healing for countless pilgrims. While many have experienced physical cures there, the greater miracle of Lourdes is spiritual. Pilgrims return home renewed in faith, reconciled with God, and strengthened to carry their crosses with hope. Lourdes reminds us that suffering is not meaningless when united to Christ, and that God’s grace is often revealed most powerfully in weakness.
For this reason, February 11 is also observed as the World Day of the Sick. On this day, the Church prays especially for those who are ill, elderly, or burdened by suffering, and for those who care for them. Our Lady of Lourdes teaches us to see Christ in the sick and to trust that no pain, no illness, and no sorrow is ever wasted when placed in God’s hands.
As we honor Our Lady of Lourdes, may we turn to her with confidence, asking her to lead us always to her Son. May she help us to trust in God’s healing mercy—whether that healing comes in body, mind, or soul—and to remain faithful even when the cross is heavy.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
In Christ,
Fr. Joe Connelly