In Lourdes, France Mother Mary is said to have appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous. On 11 February Bernadette, her sister Toinette and neighbor Jeanne Abadie were collecting firewood. While taking off her shoes and stockings to wade through water near grotto of Massabielle, she heard sound of wind but trees and did not move but a wild rose in niche of grotto did move. Her narration is quoted below.
"I came back towards the grotto and started taking off my stockings. I had hardly taken off the first stocking when I heard a sound like the gust of wind. Then I turned my head towards the meadow. I saw the trees quite still: I went on taking off my stockings. I heard the same sound again. As I raised my head to look at the grotto, I saw a lady dressed in white, wearing a white dress, a blue girdle and a yellow rose on each foot, the same color as the chain of her rosary; the beads of the rosary were white ... From the niche, or rather the dark alcove behind it, came a dazzling light."
Bernadette tried to make the sign of the cross but could not as her hands were trembling. The Lady smiled and invited Bernadette to pray the rosary with Her. Bernadette tried to keep this a secret but her sister told her mother of this. Both of them received punishment for their story. 3 days later, on 14th February Bernadette retuned to the grotto. She had bought holy water as a test that apparition was not of evil origin. She started throwing holy water in the direction of apparition at the same time she said " if She came from God She was to stay but if not she must go." The Lady started to smile and bowed. Bernadettes companions have become afraid when they saw her in ecstasy. On 18th February she spoke of being told by the Lady to return after 2 weeks. The lady promised Bernadette not to make her happy in this world but in the next.
Bernadette was ordered by her parents not to go there again. she went anyway. On 24th February Lady asked her for prayer and penitence for conversion of sinners. The next day Our Lady asked her to dig in the ground and drink from the spring she found there. After 4 days, a blind man, louiburite got sight after washing his face with this water. Stream soon became focal point of pilgrimages. This water was given to patients of all kinds and many reports of miraculous cure followed. 7 of these were confirmed as lacking any medical explanation by Prof.Verges.The first certified miracle was of a woman whose right hand had been deformed as a consequence of an accident. There were also miracles that turned out to be short term improvement or even hoaxes. Catholic church and government officials became increasingly concerned. Government fenced the grotto and issued penalties for anyone trying to get near the grotto. On 4th october 1858 Napolean III intervened with an order to reopen the grotto.
Bernadette managed to visit the barricaded grotto under cover of darkness. On 25th March she said she was told "I am the Immaculate Conception". On Easter Sunday, 7 April, her examining doctor stated that Soubirous, in ecstasy, was observed to have held her hands over a lit candle without sustaining harm. On 16 July, Soubirous went for the last time to the grotto. "I have never seen her so beautiful before," she reported. Several miracles happened in Lourdes. Out of which 70 have been declared scientifically inexplicable by the Lourdes medical bureau
These events established the Marian veneration in Lourdes, which together with Fátima and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most frequented Marian shrines in the world, and to which between 4 and 6 million pilgrims travel annually.
In 1863, Joseph-Hugues Fabisch was charged to create a statue of the Virgin according to Soubirous's description. The statue was placed in the grotto and solemnly dedicated on 4 April 1864 in presence of 20,000 pilgrims.
Pope Pius IX approved the veneration in Lourdes and supported the building of the Cathedral in 1870 .Pope Pius X in 1907 introduced the feast of the apparition of the Immaculate Virgin of Lourdes. Pope Pius XI beatified the Marian visionary Bernadette Soubirous on 6 June 1925 and canonized her on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December 1933 and determined her feast day to be 18 February.