St. Bernadette of Lourdes received a series of visions of the Virgin Mary at the Massabielle cave in her home village of Lourdes, France, between February and July in 1858. During the ninth apparition, Mary told Bernadette to drink and wash in a spring, even though there was no visible spring in the cave. Bernadette dug into the soil in a spot that was completely dry, and water suddenly flowed forth. Eventually, a chapel was built at the site of her visions, and many miraculous healings were reported by people who had visited the shrine or come into contact with the water of the spring. A number of these healings have been authenticated by the Roman Catholic Church, as were Bernadette’s visions.
Bernadette’s body was exhumed several times after her death in 1879 for examination for her beatification (the second step in declaring someone a saint), and it was found to be incorrupt (free from decay). Her body lies in the main chapel of the Convent of St. Gildard in Nevers, France, for public viewing.