#Our Lady of Lourdes appears to St. Bernadette and tells her "I am the Immaculate Conception".

Members of the family and countless visitors had implored Bernadette several times to ask the identity of the Lady. Bernadette had done so, but the Lady had not responded. During the sixteenth apparition on March 25, 1858, the Feast of the Annunciation, Bernadette asked once more. This time the Lady responded in the Bigourdane dialect, “Que soy era Immaculada Conceptiou,” which means, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

 

In the year 1854, four years before the start of the apparitions at Lourdes, Pope Pius IX had declared [in Ineffabilis Deus] the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary to be an “article of faith” to be believed by all Catholics. The doctrine was neither understood nor discussed among persons of Bernadette’s station in life,* so it was reasonable that Bernadette did not understand the words spoken by the Lady.

#Why she said "I am the Immaculate Conception" and not "I am immaculately conceived"

We can say likewise that she is the greatest, most excellent, purest Temple of the Holy Ghost. Mary herself corroborates this truth when she defines herself at Lourdes: “I am the Immaculate Conception” and thus assigns to herself the title that in the strict sense is an attribute of God (“I am...”) and is applied in particular to the Holy Ghost, who within the Trinity is the eternally perfect, “immaculate” conception of the Father and the Son.

 

If among creatures a bride takes the name of her husband by the fact that she belongs to him, unites herself with him, makes herself like unto him and together with him becomes the source of new life, how much more should the name of the Holy Spirit, "Immaculate Conception", be the name of her in whom He lives with a love which is fruitful in the entire supernatural economy?⁴

 

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^{4. Final article of February 17, 1941, KR 212-213}

Our Lady of Lourdes appears to St. Bernadette and tells her "I am the Immaculate Conception".

Members of the family and countless visitors had implored Bernadette several times to ask the identity of the Lady. Bernadette had done so, but the Lady had not responded. During the sixteenth apparition on March 25, 1858, the Feast of the Annunciation, Bernadette asked once more. This time the Lady responded in the Bigourdane dialect, “Que soy era Immaculada Conceptiou,” which means, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

In the year 1854, four years before the start of the apparitions at Lourdes, Pope Pius IX had declared [in Ineffabilis Deus] the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary to be an “article of faith” to be believed by all Catholics. The doctrine was neither understood nor discussed among persons of Bernadette’s station in life,* so it was reasonable that Bernadette did not understand the words spoken by the Lady.

Why she said "I am the Immaculate Conception" and not "I am immaculately conceived"

We can say likewise that she is the greatest, most excellent, purest Temple of the Holy Ghost. Mary herself corroborates this truth when she defines herself at Lourdes: “I am the Immaculate Conception” and thus assigns to herself the title that in the strict sense is an attribute of God (“I am...”) and is applied in particular to the Holy Ghost, who within the Trinity is the eternally perfect, “immaculate” conception of the Father and the Son.

If among creatures a bride takes the name of her husband by the fact that she belongs to him, unites herself with him, makes herself like unto him and together with him becomes the source of new life, how much more should the name of the Holy Spirit, "Immaculate Conception", be the name of her in whom He lives with a love which is fruitful in the entire supernatural economy?⁴

---

^{4. Final article of February 17, 1941, KR 212-213}

In the year 1854, four years before the start of the apparitions at Lourdes, Pope Pius IX had declared [in Ineffabilis Deus] the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary to be an “article of faith” to be believed by all Catholics. The doctrine was neither understood nor discussed among persons of Bernadette’s station in life,* so it was reasonable that Bernadette did not understand the words spoken by the Lady.

In the year 1854, four years before the start of the apparitions at Lourdes, Pope Pius IX had declared [in Ineffabilis Deus] the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary to be an “article of faith” to be believed by all Catholics. The doctrine was neither understood nor discussed among persons of Bernadette’s station in life,* so it was reasonable that Bernadette did not understand the words spoken by the Lady.

#Our Lady of Lourdes appears to St. Bernadette.

#Why she said "I am the Immaculate Conception." and not "I am immaculately conceived."

#Our Lady of Lourdes appears to St. Bernadette and tells her "I am the Immaculate Conception".

#Why she said "I am the Immaculate Conception" and not "I am immaculately conceived"