Our Lady appears to Bernadette Soubirous Lourdes, France 1858 Homepage "Appearances of Mary" Web Site

"In 1858, four years after the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed, Mary appeared to a very poor young girl, Bernadette Soubirous, eighteen times between February 11 and July 16, 1858. On March 25, 1858, on the feast of the Annunciation, Our Lady revealed to the uneducated Bernadette, 'I am the Immaculate Conception.' Because the dogma had been officially proclaimed less than four years earlier, and Bernadette could not even have know of its existence, great credibility was given to Bernadette by her repetition of the Blessed Mother's word. It was an affirmation from Heaven of the truth of the dogma. In addition, Bernadette was told by Mary to begin digging in the ground; she obediently did so, to the townspeople's scorn. water immediately began flowing from the spot where Bernadette dug, a tiny stream that since has grown to the size of a small river. Thousands of healings have been reported as the result of bathing in or drinking this miraculous water. The walls of the grotto where the Blessed Mother appeared are lined with the crutches of the lame who have walked away from the waters, totally healed."