THE SMILE OF THE IMMACULATE

Four years after the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady deigned to come down to earth in order to confirm, in a marvelous manner, the declaration of Pope Pius IX of blessed memory.

It was at Lourdes, in France, that Our Lady appeared repeatedly to the innocent Bernadette, and during the final apparition she said:

— I am the Immaculate Conception.

The following account is given not by a devotee, nor even by a good Christian. He writes:

“When people were already speaking much about the apparitions of Lourdes, I was staying in Cauterets, a town near Lourdes, more for recreation than for treatment. I found it amusing to hear that the Virgin had smiled at Bernadette, and I resolved to go to Lourdes to see the visionary and catch her in a lie.

I went to the Soubirous home and found Bernadette sitting at the door, mending stockings. Her face seemed rather ordinary to me; it bore signs of chronic illness together with great gentleness. At my insistence she recounted the apparitions with complete simplicity and conviction.

‘But is it true that the Virgin smiled?’

‘Yes, she smiled.’

‘And what was that smile like?’

The girl looked at me with astonishment and replied:

‘Sir, one would have to be from Heaven in order to reproduce that smile.’

‘Could you not reproduce it for me? I am an unbeliever and do not believe in the apparitions.’

Bernadette’s face became sad and serious.

‘Then do you think that I lied?’

I felt defeated. No, such a pure child could not lie. I was about to apologize when she added:

‘Very well; if you are a sinner, I shall try to imitate Our Lady’s smile.’

The girl slowly rose, folded her hands, and a heavenly radiance illuminated her face. A divine smile, such as I had never seen upon mortal lips, captivated my eyes.

She was still smiling when I fell to my knees, conquered by the smile of the Immaculate reflected upon the lips of the blessed visionary.

From that day forward, that divine smile never faded from my memory. Many years passed, yet its remembrance dried many tears when I lost my wife and my two daughters.

I seem to be alone in the world, and I live by the smile of the Virgin.”