Saint Bernadette is the patron saint of illness and poverty. Bernadette was the eldest child in a large poor family. In February of 1858, in Lourdes, France, she witnessed her first vision of the Virgin Mary. She received over fifteen more in the next half-a-year. Since the visions of Our Lady to Bernadette, millions of people have visited Lourdes.
Prayer to Saint Bernadette
ST. BERNADETTE,
pure and simple child,
you who were privileged to
behold the beauty of
Mary Immaculate and to be
the recipient of her
confidence eighteen
times at Lourdes;
you who did desire from then
on to hide yourself in the
cloister of Nevers and there live
and die as a victim of sinners,
obtain for us that spirit of purity,
which will lead us also
to the glorious vision of God
and of Mary in Heaven. Amen.
Prayer to Saint Benadette
O My God, I beg You, by Your
Loneliness, not that You may
spare me affliction, but that
You may not abandon me in it.
When I encounter affliction,
teach me to see You in it
as my sole comforter.
Let affliction strengthen
my faith, fortify my hope,
and purify my love.
Grant me the grace to see
Your hand in my affliction
and to desire no other
comfort but You.
Amen.