April 16 – Saint Bernadette Soubirous:
“Oblates have been part of the history of Lourdes right from the beginning. We mention only three significant events.
1) When Bernadette was learning to read and write, she met Fr. Ferdinand Gondrand, who had been invited by Msgr. Laurence to preach a retreat for priests in Lourdes in 1860. This Oblate, won over by the visionary and convinced of the truth of her story, began a correspondence with her, even allowing himself to ask her for a written account of her experience. In May 1861 he came to Lourdes a second time, again to preach a retreat. Bernadette granted his request May 28, 1861. It is the first written account of the apparitions. Having learned of the death of Bishop de Mazenod, Fr. Gondrand had rushed back …