Virgin · Remembered on April 16
St. Bernadette Soubirous
St. Bernadette Soubirous is remembered on April 16 in Bless’s calendar of saints. Traditionally invoked as patron of the sick and Lourdes pilgrims. Below: a short life and 2 sourced quotations in their own words.
| Remembered on | April 16 |
|---|---|
| Title | Virgin |
| Died | 1879 |
| Patron of | the sick, Lourdes pilgrims |
| In their own words | 2 sourced quotations |
| Next on Bless’s Today screen | None left in the published calendar (through December 31, 2028) |
Life
A miller’s daughter of Lourdes, sickly and unlettered, to whom the Virgin appeared eighteen times at the grotto of Massabielle in 1858, naming herself the Immaculate Conception and leaving a spring that still heals.
Bernadette carried the questioning of Church and state with unshakable simplicity, then hid herself in a convent at Nevers, where she died at thirty-five, counting herself no more than a broom the Virgin had used.
Patron of
Tradition invokes St. Bernadette Soubirous as patron of the sick and Lourdes pilgrims.
Saints with the same patronage
- St. Camillus de Lellisthe sick · July 18
Patronages are traditional, not an official list. All patron saints in Bless, A to Z.
In their own words
Each quotation names the work it comes from. Bless quotes these in the comments beside the verses listed under In Scripture.
The more I am crucified, the more I rejoice.
O Jesus, keep me under the standard of Your cross. Let me not just look at You crucified but have You living in my heart.
In Scripture
In Bless, St. Bernadette Soubirous’s words appear in the comments beside these verses. This page’s labels say how each is linked: “on this verse” means the saint wrote about that very verse; “on this theme” means the quotation shares its theme. Scripture is quoted from the Catholic Public Domain Version.
On this theme
I live; yet now, it is not I, but truly Christ, who lives in me. And though I live now in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and who delivered himself for me.
Galatians 2:20 · CPDV Beside their words: “O Jesus, keep me under the standard of Your cross. Let me not just look at You crucified…”
On this theme
But far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.
Galatians 6:14 · CPDV Beside their words: “The more I am crucified, the more I rejoice.”
On this theme
so that Christ may live in your hearts through a faith rooted in, and founded on, charity.
Ephesians 3:17 · CPDV Beside their words: “O Jesus, keep me under the standard of Your cross. Let me not just look at You crucified…”
On this theme
For now I rejoice in my passion on your behalf, and I complete in my flesh the things that are lacking in the Passion of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the Church.
Colossians 1:24 · CPDV Beside their words: “The more I am crucified, the more I rejoice.”
In the calendar
The upcoming dates, through December 31, 2028, when Bless’s Today screen shows St. Bernadette Soubirous. Where the US calendar keeps another celebration that day, it is named instead and no rank is given.
Readings
No dates are left in Bless’s published calendar, which runs through December 31, 2028. St. Bernadette Soubirous keeps April 16 in Bless’s calendar of saints: see the saints of April.
All the saints of April Born on April 16? A saint for every day
Spotted a mistake in a date, a patronage or a quotation? Report an error and we’ll fix it in the app and here.