Background
According to her own report, beginning on Feb. 11, 1858, she saw 18 apparitions of a lady inside a cave at Massabielle. "The Lady" bade her scoop up water in the cave and drink it, and from that moment a trickle so small that Bernadette had difficulty finding it became a gushing spring giving 27,000 gallons (100,000 liters) a day. "The Lady" asked for a church to be built on the site, and when asked who she was, replied, "I am the Immaculate Conception." The shrine immediately became world famous and is still visited annually by thousands of maimed and afflicted persons.
She was beatified in 1925 and canonized on Dec. 8, 1933. The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is February 11. St. Bernadette's feast is April 16.