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The apparitions of

GARABANDAL

BY
F. SANCHEZ-VENTURA Y PASCUAL

APPENDIX B

Page 198

Did Bernadette eat grass?

9. — Another of Monroy's arguments is that the vision has occasionally given the children strange commands. The apparition at Lourdes, for instance, "ordered Bernadette to go and 'drink and wash at the spring, and eat the grass that you will find there.' This is rather a strange message," says Monroy. "Anyone that thinks that God wastes His time telling little girls to eat grass has not the slightest idea who God is. And the story goes that the child obeyed these commands to the letter!!!"

   But, that is not the story. Let us see what Bernadette herself had to say on the subject. On returning to the grotto, the day of the second apparition (February 14th), upon the advice of some of her neighbors, she went provided with holy water, in case it was an evil spirit. Bernadette was accompanied by Madame Millot and Madame Antoinette Peyret, their pencils and paper at the ready to note down whatever the vision had to communicate to them, for they thought it might be the soul of Madame Latapie, President of the Children of Mary, who had died recently. Our Lady smiled when asked to speak.

   "It is unnecessary for you to write down what I have to say to you. Simply do me the kindness of coming here every day for the next fifteen days."

   "What must I do?"

   "Pray. Pray for sinners, for this troubled world. Do penance, penance. Tell the priests that I wish a chapel to be built here. I want them to come here. . . . Now, go to the spring and wash in it."

   Bernadette's own account goes on: "As I could not see a spring, I went in the direction of the river Gave. The Lady called me and beckoned me to go to the grotto on my left. I obeyed, but I could not see any water at all. Not knowing where to get water from, I scooped away some earth and water began to flow from the spot. I allowed it to clear a little; then, I drank some and washed in it."

   "Several times She repeated personal things to me, and told me they were for my ears alone, and that I was obliged to keep these things secret."

   "I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next," Our Lady said at one point.

   "When she asked me to pray and do penance, she asked if I would not find it excessively unpleasant and tiring to climb the slope on my knees', kissing the ground. I replied, 'No'. Then, I embraced the ground . . ."

   "Why?" they asked her.

   "To do penance for myself and for others," she answered.*

*   "Estigmatizados y Apariciones", page 133 onwards.

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