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Friday, 29 March 2024

Events for Friday 16th April 2021

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St Bernadette

Starts 10:00 Ends 19:00
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The famed visionary of Lourdes, she was baptised "Mary Bernard". Bernadette was born in Lourdes, in the south of France, on January 7th, 1844, the daughter of Francis and Louise Soubirous. Bernadette, a severe asthma sufferer, lived in abject poverty. On February 11th, 1858, she was granted a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a cave on the banks of the Gave River, near Lourdes. She was placed in considerable jeopardy when she reported the vision, and crowds gathered when she had futher visits from the Virgin, from February 18th of that year through to March 4th.

The civil authorities tried to frighten Bernadette into recanting her accounts, but she remained faithful to the vision. On February 25th, a spring emerged from the cave and the waters were discovered to be of a miraculous nature, capable of healing the sick and lame. On March 25th, Bernadette announced that the lady of the vision stated that she was the "Immaculate Conception", and that a church should be erected on the site. The authorities tried to shut down the spring and delay the construction of the chapel, but the influence and fame of the visions had reached Empress Eugenie of France, wife of Napoleon III, and construction went forward. Crowds gathered, now free of harassment from the anti-clerical and anti-religious officials.

In 1866, Bernadette was sent to the Sisters of Notre Dame in Nevers, in central France. There she became a member of the community, and faced some rather harsh treatment from the mistress of novices. This oppression ended when it was discovered that she suffered from a painful, incurable illness. She died in Nevers on April 16th, 1879, still giving the same account of her visions.




St Bernadette's incorrupt body in Nevers, France today

 

Lourdes became one of the major pilgrimage destinations in the world, and the spring has produced 27,000 gallons of water each week since emerging during Bernadette's visions. She was not involved in the building of the shrine, as she remained hidden at Nevers. Bernadette was beatified in 1925 and canonised in 1933 by Pope Pius XI.

Our Lady of Lourdes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Benedict Joseph Labre

Starts 10:00 Ends 19:00
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Called "the Beggar of Rome", Benedict Joseph Labre was a pilgrim recluse. He was born at Amettes, near Arras in Northern France, on March 25th, 1748, the oldest of fifteen children.

Studying under his uncle, a parish priest, at Erin, France, Benedict was attracted to an austere way of life. He tried to join the Trappists, Carthusians, and Cistercians but was refused by these orders, who probably questioned his state of mind and considered him to be unsuitable for communal life. Nevertheless, encouraged by confessors, Benedict believed he had a calling from God, however unusual that call was. It would prove to be the call of the mendicant - a beggar, dependent on charity, living day to day by faith, and the "fool-for-Christ".

In 1770, he made a pilgrimage to the major shrines of Europe, such as Paray-le-Monial in France and Compostela in Spain, settling in Rome in 1774. There he lived near the Colosseum, for a time in its ruins, and earned fame for his sanctity. Benedict was devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and attended the Forty Hours devotion in the city. During Holy Week ceremonies in 1783, he collapsed in church and died on this date, April 16th, aged 35. He was declared Venerable by Pope Pius IX in 1859 and was canonised in 1881 by Pope Leo XIII.

Today the house to which he was carried, just prior to his death, on the Street of the Serpent, is a place of pilgrimage. His tomb is in the Church of Santa Maria dei Monti in Rome.
 
Prayer to Saint Benedict Joseph Labre

Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, you gave up honour, money and home for love of Jesus.
Help us to set our hearts on Jesus and not on the things of this world.
You lived in obscurity among the poor in the streets.
Enable us to see Jesus in our poor brothers and sisters and not judge by appearances.
Make us realize that in helping them we are helping Jesus.
Show us how to befriend them and not pass them by.
Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, you had a great love for prayer.
Obtain for us the grace of persevering prayer,
especially adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, poor in the eyes of men but rich in the eyes of God,
pray for us. Amen.