16th Apparition - The name

16th Apparition - Thursday, the 25th of March. 

The lady did indeed come on the 25th, just as the onlookers had all said she would.  

Bernadette still persisted in asking the lady her name.  This time the lady raised her eyes to heaven, joined her hands over her breast, and said:  'I am the Immaculate Conception'.

After the apparition, Bernadette ran back to tell Father Peyramale what the lady had said. These were new words for her, and she repeated them to herself all the way to the presbytery.  She told the priest that the lady had said: 'I am the Immaculate Conception'. 

Father Peyramale was stunned.  How could Bernadette possibly have known the words?  Four years earlier the Pope had pronounced the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, but only the clergy knew about this.  No lay people had heard of it. So how could Bernadette have heard of it? He had to conclude that there was no way she could have known the words 'Immaculate Conception', and he could not think of anyone who could have told her. So who had?   

Bernadette simply had to be telling the truth.  She had seen a lady at the grotto, and the lady had to be the Blessed Virgin Mary, and had said, 'I am the Immaculate Conception'. 

So then, he realised, there could be no further doubt. What the lady had asked for must be done. Yes, there would definitely have to be a chapel built, and processions arranged.  First, though, he had to go and tell the bishop about everything that had happened.