Each year, millions of people from all over the world bathe in the water of a spring in Lourdes, France. They come to pray for physical and spiritual healing and to remember a young girl who was chosen by the Mother of Jesus to draw us closer to her Son. Captivatingly illustrated with delicate mixed media—watercolor, inks, gold overlays, and collage—this lovely book tells the story of Saint Bernadette and the beautiful lady, the miraculous spring, and the wonders that continue to make Lourdes a sign of God's tender love for humanity, and especially for the sick. This book has a very precious look with its lovely gold overlays, and its very unique art. It has a quite different style from the other volumes in the "Life of a Saint" series. Ages 5 and up.

While the story of the apparitions of Our Lady to Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes in 1858 are well known, relatively few people are familiar with the saint's own spiritual insights and profound holiness. For the first time in English, this book presents a wide selection of St. Bernadette's thoughts, advice, sayings, and prayers through the touching words of her spiritual diary, notes, and letters to friends and family. After receiving the visions of Our Lady at the grotto in Lourdes, Bernadette eventually became a religious sister as a member of the Sisters of Charity. She lived a life of simplicity, charity, suffering and deep holiness, dying at the age of 35. When she was canonized a saint, her body was found to be incorrupt. In these beautiful writings of St. Bernadette, we learn the secrets of her holiness and happiness. Though she suffered greatly throughout her life, the heroic response of this humble, self-effacing nun transformed excruciating suffering into spiritual fruitfulness. Her letters and writings serve as a model for others passing through their own trials. Her writings reveal and intimate and profound love for God and neighbor. Anyone pursuing a deeper spiritual life will appreciate knowing Bernadette as she truly was, and the inspiring spiritual works of wisdom she offers to us all.

"Perhaps you have already heard about Lourdes, a little town in the French Pyrenees Mountains famous all over the world. Thousands of Christians go there every year to pray. Sick people from all countries come in the hope of being cured. And yet, a hundred and fifty years ago, Lourdes was a very little village, and Bernadette, the one who started it all, was just a very simple girl of fourteen." So begins the story of Bernadette and her amazing encounters with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Young readers will enjoy the lovely watercolors and lively text, as they are introduced to the simple girl whose visions of a "beautiful Lady" resulted in the discovery of a miraculous spring.

Bernadette of Lourdes: her life, death and visions is the first ever scholarly biography of Bernadette Soubirous, either in French or in English. It draws upon many testimonies and archival sources that have never previously been published. Therese Taylor explains who Bernadette was, and how she lived and died but takes no position on whether or not her visions were genuine. This story begins in Bernadette's native country of the Pyrenees, a mountain region haunted by tales of fairies, witches and miraculous groves and springs. It follows Bernadette's astonishing life story, from her family circle, through her years of fame, to her retirement at the convent of St Gildard at Nevers. Her difficult relationships with the historians of Lourdes and her lengthy terminal illness are also considered. This biography places Bernadette in the context of her time. She was born into a volatile family and her parent's lives were blighted by economic failure and alcoholism. At the age of fourteen Bernadette was an illiterate child-servant, who suddenly experienced a series of visions of a White Lady in the Grotto of Massabielle. Townspeople, government officials, clergy and journalists were all drawn in, and sought out Bernadette in order to assess her story. A chain of events was set off which made her one of the most famous women in France. Bernadette has to be understood not only in religious terms, but also with reference to themes such as tourism, commercialism, mass-representation and the exploitation of female celebrities.

Padre Pio was a stigmatic, mystic and wonder-worker, and he is arguably Ireland's favourite saint. Compiled by award-winning journalist Colm Keane, this remarkable collection of stories is crammed full of miracles and cures attributed to Padre Pio's intercession. There are accounts of scientifically inexplicable recoveries from cancer, heart disease and brain damage, along with revivals from blood clots, strokes, multiple sclerosis and life-threatening viral infections. Also featured are visions, apparitions and supernormal coincidences. Elsewhere in the book, early Irish pilgrims speak of trail-blazing journeys to San Giovanni Rotondo in the 1950s and '60s, while visits by devotees to Padre Pio's beatification in 1999 and his canonisation in 2002 are vividly recounted. Using personal testimonies, Padre Pio: The Irish Connection documents the widespread influence of this complex and intriguing Italian saint, who bore the wounds of Christ for half a century until his death in 1968.

This exciting, full-color graphic novel tells the story of Saint Bernadette Soubirious and the miraculous apparitions of Lourdes.