The Virgin Mary reveals to Bernadette that she is the Immaculate Conception
Bernadette Soubirous, after an absence of three weeks from her visits to the grotto in Massabielle to see ‘The Lady’, felt a sudden irresistible urge to return there during the night of the 24th/25th March 1858. On the feast of the Annunciation, early in the morning of the 25th, ‘The Lady’ appeared to Bernadette for the sixteenth time, and smiled at her. After approximately an hour in which Bernadette had remained entranced as she gazed upon the beautiful face, the Lady finally gave an answer to Bernadette’s repeated question asking her what her name was:
“I AM THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION”.
This statement from the Lady (who was, of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary) confirms the infallible Doctrine of Pope Pius IX, who had spoken “ex catedra” four years earlier. He had declared that the Virgin Mary, alone of all human beings who have ever lived (except for Jesus, and our first parents, Adam and Eve) was conceived without the stain of original sin in her mother’s womb.
This is “The Lady clothed with the sun”, who will “crush the head of the serpent”, Mary Immaculate.
Bernadette did not understand what Our Lady was saying to her, and had to repeat these strange words to herself over and over in her Gascon dialect (“Que soi era Immaculada Concepcion”) all the way back to the parish priest, Fr. Dominique Peyramale, for fear of forgetting them! Only later was the meaning explained to her, and she realised that her ‘Lady’ was indeed The Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
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Our Lady had also announced her Immaculate Conception to Sister St. Catherine Labouré during the apparitions at the Rue du Bac back in 1830. She also taught Sister Catharine the following prayer:
“O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee”
Our Lady gave Sister Catharine the miraculous medal, which was at first called: “the medal of Mary of The Immaculate Conception”, and told to spread the devotion.
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The Novena in Honour of the Immaculate Conception starts on 30th November. Here is the beautiful Novena composed by St. Maximilian Kolbe: http://www.corazones.org/oraciones/oraciones_maria/novena_inmaculate_conception_kolbe.htm
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
How sure are you that this is from God amd that this “apparition” is REALLY Mary?
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I read that Pope Pius the IX fought to prevent the founding of the Italian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, because he felt strongly that animals have no souls. I have seen animals be smart, caring, loving, loyal members of families. Judaism has always taught that animals have souls. I wonder why Christianity tossed this out. I went to catholic school and was told that animals do not have souls. Human beings are just another animal, so it makes no sense that we would have souls but not them. If they don’t have souls, then why do they all have different personalities? God actually created animals before he created humans anyway, so even though no one can actually say how God works, it seems logical to assume that they would have souls just as we do. Humans regard themselves as more important than all other life on this planet. How do we know God views it this way? Everything on this planet was created by him, why do we assume he loves some of his creations more than others? Humans are the most evil animals on this earth since evil is a human concept; it could be reasonably argued that we are the only evil creatures in the world. The Pope also introduced the idea of Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary in 1854, putting her up to the status of Jesus. She was a respectable woman, but nowhere in the bible does it say that it is acceptable to worship her
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Jane @ 13:51
The Virgin Mary’s apparitions to St. Bernadette took place only four years after the Catholic Church’s infallible declaration of her Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX. There is no other person in the whole world except Jesus Christ Himself (and our first parents, Adam and Eve, who were born before the Fall) who have been conceived Immaculate – meaning without the stain of Original Sin.
Mary, Mother of God, confirmed that she was the unknown “Lady” Bernadette was seeing by her very words “I am the Immaculate Conception”.
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Shadaan, your comment is full of flaws. I don’t think you learnt very much Catholic Teaching at that school you went to.
First of all, Catholics do not “worship” the Virgin Mary. We love, honour and respect her deeply, for she gave birth to the Son of God. This naturally places her above all other people, and when she sings her Magnificat, she recognises this: “for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because He that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and Holy is His name.” She is constantly pointing us towards her Divine Son, telling us to “do whatever He tells you”. (John 2:5)
Mary is Queen of Heaven, and helps us on our journey to God. Devotion to Mary is above all, devotion to Christ.
Your statement that Jews believe animals have souls, is also not strictly true. Animals have a type of spirit (which is not the same as a soul), but they follow their instincts and do not have free will. They cannot chose between Good and Evil. Only human beings, created in God’s Image and Likeness, have that ability. Only humans have the capacity to communicate (pray) with their Creator, and that inbuilt desire and longing for unity with God.
You might be interested in this article by a Jewish Rabbi on the subject on animals’ supposed “souls”: http://rooster613.blogspot.com.es/2011/03/do-animals-have-souls-part-i.html
“Whether or not you believe animals have souls depends on how you define “soul,” and Judaism does not speak with one voice on the subject. One thing Judaism does clearly say, however, is that animals are living beings with feelings, that they were created by God, and that we are commanded to care for them properly.”
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“How sure are you that this is from God…” asks Jane, which incidentally was the name of my first girlfriend: Catholics are not required to believe in the miracles of Lourdes, and those of other faith traditions (or none) cannot believe in them because they are matters of Catholic faith, not Presbyterianism (for example) or scientific empiricism. Non-Catholics just don’t get it and can’t. Personally, I have enormous respect for the experiential facts of Lourdes without being a firm believer in the literal ‘truth’ of St Bernadette’s visions. Other Catholics may beg to differ from my thoughts on this, which is okay, because we are all here to learn and/or teach.
I agree with Kathleen that animals do not have souls. If they did, they would be subject to the Last Judgment, an absurd notion on its face. Animals can do a great deal of harm, but they cannot sin.
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..animals do indeed have souls…sensible souls..as opposed to rational souls…as opposed to vegetative souls…yet what the higher is composed of every portion of the lower however the lower has none of the higher powers…so you see in vegetative the nutritive, generative and augmentative..and in the higher the sensible and in the still higher the reasoning…because the animal soul is sensible its powers of reasoning exist outside it instinct which has its mover God himself and so the actions of animals being nonvluntary do not compel guilt or merit but it is moved extrinsically..while the rational being moves from within through the intellect which is against impulse or external coercion and internal neccesity..animals cant be judged since they are moved from without..while the reasoning can merit judgement and so because of volition earn..plants and animals probably just go back to God while the matter is recycled itself while the forms persist through God…while the body of the animate reasoning being through uncreated help is reunited through beatitude…etc..remember the soul is the form of an animate being..so all animate things have souls..it is the archtecture of their essence…
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kathleen, I will always remember that point in the old movie Song of Bernadette, when Bernadette reveals the name of the lady:
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The first fact about Lourdes is that it is’t Private! There was and is nothing Private about Lourdes. Lourdes isn’t Dogmatic either actually it is confirmation of the the Faith from its two sources. The Bible and Sacred Tradition. The Belief in the Dogmas of Immaculate Conception and the Assumption come from these two sources. Papal Dogma are also from these two sources. The importance of this is because the Faith is Revealed not Evolved.
Lourdes is God’s Public intervention into the Last Times. We can be confident about this because this was the Public appearance of the Woman announced in Genesis and in the world of Modern science and the Marxist and Darwinian (we can add Adam Smith) satanic Evolution. This is Revelation opposing the Pride of rational intellect.
Our Lords these are Our Lords words at Loudres (you cannot separate Jesus from Mary nor His Pope).
Animals and Man. The Sin of Adam and Eve brought death into Creation. Man’s death is the death of His Soul. The death of the Body is not to be confused with the death of the Soul.
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Dear GC,
Thank you for reminding us of that moving scene from the old 1943 film, “Song of Bernadette”.
Have you read the wonderful book the film was based on, by the author Franz Werfel? He was a Jew fleeing the Gestapo with his wife, who took refuge with a number of the families living in Lourdes during the Second World War. He vowed that if he escaped capture “he would put off all tasks and write Bernadette’s story into a novel. When the Werfels reached the safety of America, Werfel kept his word”. When he sadly died, shortly after reaching America, the Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles apparently gave him a Christian burial. [From Wikipedia]
The film is good, but the book is far better, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Lourdes. It gives many insights into the real miracles* witnessed there ever since Our Lady first appeared. My parents had this book in their ‘library’ and I devoured it after my first visit to Lourdes as a teenager, and then re-read it some years ago.
* There are numerous miraculous cures, dutifully scrutinised by teams of experts from all walks of life, believers and non-believers, that have taken place at Lourdes since Our Lady appeared there. However the greatest of all the ‘miracles’ that occur – and which are not included in any list – are the many people who are converted (or re-converted) to the Catholic Faith by the graces bestowed on them when they visit the sanctuary of Lourdes.
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Yo GC, your little video got me seeking the whole thang, and here it is:
The best 150 minutes I ever spent watching!
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..john duns scotus championed the dogma of the immaculate conception in his defence of the immaculate conception…Utrum Beata Virgo fuerit concepta in peccato originali…
http://www.christendom-awake.org/pages/marian/scotus&immac.htm
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Brother B, I don’t know how you could have possibly missed it over the years! You could even get it from video cassette libraries in the 70s and 80s. It won a lot of awards, but kathleen says the book is even better.
Jennifer Jones (who only died a few years ago at age 90) was already 23 when she played the 14 year old Bernadette, but she does quite well, doesn’t she. Although a Gascon lumpenproletariat girl of the Pyrenees foothills she ain’t.,
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St Bernadette was Baptised 9th January 1844 12 months to the day her parents married. Her parish Church was St Peters and when asked wha Our Lady looked like said “As regards the face and the clothes, she perfectly resembles the statue of the Virgin in the parish church. She is, however, surrounded by light and she is alive.” This small statue represents Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. She was affected by the Plague in 1855. First apparition 11th February of the Thursday before Shrove Tuesday there were 18 in all. Her first communion was 12th June 1855.
So the apparitions are at the start of Lent. The Saint prayed her Rosary through these visions. She was asked to kiss the ground (Dust thou art! Genesis) , Penance for sinners!!! The 3rd March 1858 Our Lady didn’t appear in the morning but in the afternoon ” “This morning I did not appear because cetain persons were present who were only curious to observe your behaviour in my presence. They were unworthy because they had spent the night in the grotto, thus profaning it.” Shrove Tuesday reminds Man of what he is and was Created from. St Peter’s Church and the Papacy are bound into Lourdes and the Miraculous Medal! Loudres is concurrent with Darwinsim
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February 1855 Wallace published his paper “On the Law which has Regulated the Introduction of New Species”, “..Wallace began his career as a travelling naturalist already believing in the transmutation of species. The concept had been advocated by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Erasmus Darwin, and Robert Grant, among others. It was widely discussed, but not generally accepted by leading naturalists, and was considered to have radical, even revolutionary connotations..”
Lourdes February 1855.
Fatima 13th October 1917. Russian Revolution October 1917. Marx In 1861 Karl Marx wrote to his friend Ferdinand Lassalle, “Darwin’s work is most important and suits my purpose in that it provides a basis in natural science for the historical class struggle”
Evolution and Revolution link Lourdes and Fatima
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Kathleen correctly linked Loudres to the Miraculous Medal “Ô Marie, conçue sans péché, priez pour nous qui avons recours à vous (“O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee”). Both St Bernadette and Saint Catherine Labouré bodies are Incorrupt. But what does conceived mean? At the moment of conception God creates the Soul. The conception is the dna of the parents coming together. But St Joachim and St Anne were born under Original Sin. What is more St Anne had other and later children (Mother of St John) whom were born under Original Sin.
Much has been discussed above about animals , souls, spirits etc.. This wasn’t a problem for 1800 years in Christendom BUT today is a stumbling block. Here is the problem why did the Fall of Adam bring death to the animals and Creation. How was the dna of animals changed because of Adams Sin. The existence of animals and living organisms is expressly included in Genesis ad their naming by Adam.
How was Original Sin passed onto animals? The Evolutionists off course have one way traffic and have no answer to this! Lourdes like Fatima challenge Mans choice of Revelation or Scientific reconstruction of Society , and dna.
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After the recent annual meeting of ‘The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma’ (a Catholic bloggers reunion that took place in the Blackfen parish on Saturday), one of the ‘bloggers’, Richard Collins, from the Linen on the Hedgerow blog – one of my favourites! – had this to say about Lourdes:
“After Mass and the Holy Hour, the group listened to Dr Adrian Treloar give a learned but fascinating account of some of the Lourdes miraculous cures from a medical perspective.
For my own part, I was under the impression that I had a pretty good grasp of the extent of the cures but, when you see an x-ray on-screen, showing the result of a cancerous tumour on a pelvis, where any evidence of bone has been reduced to a poisonous mass and then compare it with an x-ray post Lourdes, that clearly shows a healthy pelvis that had not existed before going on pilgrimage, you gain a very profound concept of the full meaning of the word ‘cure’.
And then Adrian showed a slide of the incorrupt body of St Bernadette, emphasizing that the saint has not been subject to any form of embalming treatment as in the cases of Lenin and Mao.
Again, it hit home that there, in Nevers, is living evidence of the power of Almighty God, visible for all to see.”
There is also a beautiful picture of St. Bernadette’s incorrupt body on his article; it really does look as though she is just fast asleep.
http://linenonthehedgerow.blogspot.com.es/2013/12/a-mass-miracles-and-meeting.html
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Because God created man in His image and likeness, men have eternal souls. When man dies, his soul is going somewhere for eternity.
Animals were never created in the image and likeness of God, although they do have souls, but have finite souls. What animates the body, is the soul, hence the Latin word for soul is; ‘anima’
Unfortunately, when Fluffy dies, so does his soul.
I am guessing that you are a protestant, and have some questions regarding Our Blessed Virgin Mary. If you understood that Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, then you would understand why Catholics venerate her.
Simply recall how the jews exonerated and venerated the ark of the covenant in the OT. If an individual didn’t show proper reverence while in the presence of the ark of the covenant in the OT, they were struck dead on the spot.
If the Old Covenant is a mere ‘shadow’ of the New ,as St Paul tells us, how much more do we have to pay reverence to the new?!!
Pope Pius IX
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This is brilliant
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“Jane says:
November 30, 2013 at 13:51
How sure are you that this is from God amd that this “apparition” is REALLY Mary?”
Because Bernadette Soubirous was too young and uneducated to know what “I Am The Immaculate Conception” even meant… and because thousands have been healed by the waters at Lourdes. The devil doesn’t heal people, Jane.
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Ooh I am very appreciative.
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I AM THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION – MARY MOTHER OF GOD.
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