For the sick
Pray the novena →In 1858 Bernadette Soubirous saw a Lady in the grotto at Massabielle eighteen times. The novena runs February 2 to 10.
February 11
The sick
Healing
Between February 11 and July 16, 1858, Bernadette Soubirous, a fourteen-year-old miller's daughter, reported eighteen apparitions in the grotto at Massabielle near Lourdes. A spring uncovered there at the Lady's request still draws millions. The Raccolta prayer of 1907, indulgenced by Pius X, is a prayer for a sick person; the opening part is given here for each day.
On March 25, 1858, the Lady said, 'I am the Immaculate Conception.'
The Lourdes Medical Bureau, set up in 1883, examines claimed cures; the Church has recognized 70.
February 11 is also the World Day of the Sick, begun by John Paul II in 1992.
A novena is nine days of prayer for one intention, modeled on the nine days the apostles and Mary prayed between the Ascension and Pentecost (Acts 1–2). Pray this each day:
Day 1. Mary, conceived without sin, our Lady of Lourdes, who dost draw from all parts thy children to the Grotto of the apparitions; thou never ceasest to encourage, by innumerable benefits, the filial confidence of those who have responded to thy invitation. Suffering in body and soul, I come in the company of thousands and thousands of poor sick people to throw myself at thy feet and implore thee to heal me. O Mother of goodness, and all-powerful with our Lord, grant that I may be delivered from my infirmities, and that I may be able to consecrate my renewed strength to the service of God and of my brethren.
Day 2. Mary, conceived without sin, our Lady of Lourdes, who dost draw from all parts thy children to the Grotto of the apparitions; thou never ceasest to encourage, by innumerable benefits, the filial confidence of those who have responded to thy invitation. Suffering in body and soul, I come in the company of thousands and thousands of poor sick people to throw myself at thy feet and implore thee to heal me. O Mother of goodness, and all-powerful with our Lord, grant that I may be delivered from my infirmities, and that I may be able to consecrate my renewed strength to the service of God and of my brethren.
Day 3. Mary, conceived without sin, our Lady of Lourdes, who dost draw from all parts thy children to the Grotto of the apparitions; thou never ceasest to encourage, by innumerable benefits, the filial confidence of those who have responded to thy invitation. Suffering in body and soul, I come in the company of thousands and thousands of poor sick people to throw myself at thy feet and implore thee to heal me. O Mother of goodness, and all-powerful with our Lord, grant that I may be delivered from my infirmities, and that I may be able to consecrate my renewed strength to the service of God and of my brethren.
Day 4. Mary, conceived without sin, our Lady of Lourdes, who dost draw from all parts thy children to the Grotto of the apparitions; thou never ceasest to encourage, by innumerable benefits, the filial confidence of those who have responded to thy invitation. Suffering in body and soul, I come in the company of thousands and thousands of poor sick people to throw myself at thy feet and implore thee to heal me. O Mother of goodness, and all-powerful with our Lord, grant that I may be delivered from my infirmities, and that I may be able to consecrate my renewed strength to the service of God and of my brethren.
Day 5. Mary, conceived without sin, our Lady of Lourdes, who dost draw from all parts thy children to the Grotto of the apparitions; thou never ceasest to encourage, by innumerable benefits, the filial confidence of those who have responded to thy invitation. Suffering in body and soul, I come in the company of thousands and thousands of poor sick people to throw myself at thy feet and implore thee to heal me. O Mother of goodness, and all-powerful with our Lord, grant that I may be delivered from my infirmities, and that I may be able to consecrate my renewed strength to the service of God and of my brethren.
Day 6. Mary, conceived without sin, our Lady of Lourdes, who dost draw from all parts thy children to the Grotto of the apparitions; thou never ceasest to encourage, by innumerable benefits, the filial confidence of those who have responded to thy invitation. Suffering in body and soul, I come in the company of thousands and thousands of poor sick people to throw myself at thy feet and implore thee to heal me. O Mother of goodness, and all-powerful with our Lord, grant that I may be delivered from my infirmities, and that I may be able to consecrate my renewed strength to the service of God and of my brethren.
Day 7. Mary, conceived without sin, our Lady of Lourdes, who dost draw from all parts thy children to the Grotto of the apparitions; thou never ceasest to encourage, by innumerable benefits, the filial confidence of those who have responded to thy invitation. Suffering in body and soul, I come in the company of thousands and thousands of poor sick people to throw myself at thy feet and implore thee to heal me. O Mother of goodness, and all-powerful with our Lord, grant that I may be delivered from my infirmities, and that I may be able to consecrate my renewed strength to the service of God and of my brethren.
Day 8. Mary, conceived without sin, our Lady of Lourdes, who dost draw from all parts thy children to the Grotto of the apparitions; thou never ceasest to encourage, by innumerable benefits, the filial confidence of those who have responded to thy invitation. Suffering in body and soul, I come in the company of thousands and thousands of poor sick people to throw myself at thy feet and implore thee to heal me. O Mother of goodness, and all-powerful with our Lord, grant that I may be delivered from my infirmities, and that I may be able to consecrate my renewed strength to the service of God and of my brethren.
Day 9. Mary, conceived without sin, our Lady of Lourdes, who dost draw from all parts thy children to the Grotto of the apparitions; thou never ceasest to encourage, by innumerable benefits, the filial confidence of those who have responded to thy invitation. Suffering in body and soul, I come in the company of thousands and thousands of poor sick people to throw myself at thy feet and implore thee to heal me. O Mother of goodness, and all-powerful with our Lord, grant that I may be delivered from my infirmities, and that I may be able to consecrate my renewed strength to the service of God and of my brethren.
One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from Our Lady of Lourdes's story, and a nudge to keep going.
[Affiliate placeholder: Catholic Company Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes medal]
Image: The Freeman's Journal (Sydney), 1858, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Opening of the prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes for a sick person (no. 283), The Raccolta, or Collection of Indulgenced Prayers (London: Burns & Oates; New York: Benziger, 1910), public domain.
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