BernadetteApparitions11

"Then once more, for the third time, clasping my hands and confessing myself to be unworthy of the great favour I was asking of Her, I again made my request.   "The Lady was standing above the rose bush, in a position very similar to that shown on the Miraculous Medal. At my third request, Her face became very serious and She seemed to bow down in an attitude of humility. Then She joined Her hands and raised them to Her breast. She looked up to Heaven. "Then slowly opening Her hands and leaning towards me, She said to me in a voice vibrating with emotion

                                                          'I AM THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION'
                                                              (Que Soy Era Immaculada Conceptiou)

"She smiled again, spoke no more, and disappeared smiling".

After the vision, Bernadette asked her aunt Lucille to allow her to keep the blessed candle which she had used throughout the Apparitions. Lucile agreed. Having obtained the necessary permission, Bernadette placed the candle between some of the rocks beneath the niche, where it slowly burned itself out. Lucile asked why Bernadette had wanted to do this. She replied - "The Lady asked me if I would leave the candle to burn at the Grotto - as it was your candle, I could not leave it there without your permission."

Leaving the Grotto, the child was laughing and smiling and quietly repeating some words to herself. Some neighbours from Lourdes came toward her and asked the cause of her happiness and what it was that she was saying. The child replied - "Oh, I'm repeating the name the Lady has just this moment given me, for fear that I might forget it. She said to me, 'I am the Immaculate Conception.'."   The child was mispronouncing the word 'Conception' and had to be corrected.

From the Grotto, the little one went directly to the Presbytery - still smiling, still repeating the words which already were spreading so quickly throughout Lourdes.   She was still repeating them when she entered the garden of the Presbytery, where Abbe Peyramale was praying his Office. He asked what she wanted today, but the child did not hear his question. "What's that you're saying, you conceited little thing!" " 'I am the Immaculate Conception'   it's the Lady who has just said these words to me!"   He asked if she knew what the words meant. She replied that she did not know their meaning.   "I see you are still being deceived. How can you say things you don't understand?" he asked.   "All the way from the Grotto I have been repeating the words 'I am the Immaculate Conception' for fear that I would forget them."   "Good!" added the Priest, "I shall consider what is to be done" and he entered the house, leaving the child and her aunt standing in the garden.

Later that day, the Priest admitted to a neighbour the effect of the child's words on him   "I was so amazed by it that I felt myself stagger and I was on the verge of falling."

The number of people traveling to the Grotto was steadily increasing, more so now that the mysterious Lady had finally identified Herself as the Immaculate Conception. Until this title had been announced, Bernadette had always called the Woman 'the Lady' - the people at the Grotto had also followed this example set by the little one. But after the Feast of the Annunciation, they were able to personalise the name of the Lady - there was now no doubt about Her identity; She was Mary, the Mother of God. And subsequently, She was referred to as Our Lady of Massabieille or Our Lady of the Grotto.

On Easter Sunday, 4th April 1858, the parish church in Lourdes was filled with people all day long. And throughout the day, people flocked to the Grotto. Commissioner Jacomet counted "in all, 3,625 visitors to the Grotto" between five in the morning and eleven at night.   The next day, Jacomet counted "3,433 strangers and 2,012 Lourdes people; in all 5,445 visitors" at the rock of Massabieille. Bernadette, however, had not been back to the Grotto since the day the Lady had named Herself.   On the Tuesday evening, 6th April, the child once more felt within herself the summons from the Lady of the niche - she was called to a further meeting. It was the Wednesday of Easter week. At six in the morning, Bernadette was once more kneeling in prayer in front of her beloved Grotto, the place she would later call "a little piece of Heaven". The Lady was standing in the niche, bathed in the light of Heaven. Again the vision was a long one, lasting nearly forty-five minutes. The child was praying the Rosary as usual.

Doctor Dozous was present throughout the Apparition. He describes for us the scene as he watched it take place - "Bernadette seemed to be even more absorbed than usual in the Appearance upon which her gaze was riveted. I witnessed, as did also every one else there present, the fact which I am about to narrate.   "She was on her knees saying with fervent devotion the prayers of her Rosary which she held in her left hand while in her right was a large blessed candle, alight. The child was just beginning to make the usual ascent on her knees when suddenly she stopped and, her right hand joining her left, the flame of the big candle passed between the fingers of the latter. Though fanned by a fairly strong breeze, the flame produced no effect upon the skin which it was touching.

"Astonished at this strange fact, I forbade anyone there to interfere - and taking my watch in my hand, I studied the phenomenon attentively for a quarter of an hour. At the end of this time Bernadette, still in her ecstasy, advanced to the upper part of the Grotto, separating her hands. The flame thus ceased to touch her left hand.

"Bernadette finished her prayer and the splendour of the transfiguration left her face. She rose and was about to quit the Grotto when I asked her to show me her left hand. I examined it most carefully, but could not find the least trace of burning anywhere upon it. I then asked the person who was holding the candle to light it again and give it to me. I put it several times in succession under Bernadettes left hand but she drew it away quickly, saying 'You are burning me!'   I record this fact just as I have seen it without attempting to explain it. Many persons who were present at the time can confirm what I have said."

A neighbour called Julie Garros (who later joined Bernadette in the convent of Nevers as Sister Vincent) also witnessed this. She relates -

"As the Apparition continued, the candle gradually slipped down so that the flame was playing on the inside of her hand".