St. Bernadette died on Easter Wednesday praying these words
As the miraculous waters at Lourdes became widely known, St. Bernadette chose to live a life of prayer and solitude.
She joined the Sisters of Charity and spent the rest of her life in the convent at Nevers, France.
For many years she suffered various ailments and eventually died at the young age of 35.
She died on April 16, 1879, which was Easter Wednesday, the Wednesday during the Octave of Easter.
French writer Paul Joseph Henri Lasserre de Monzie wrote about the final day of her death in his pious biography, Bernadette.
He begins the chapter on her death recalling the words the priest would have said at Mass on that day:
On the Wednesday in Easter Week, the sun rose brightly as befitted a festival and all the priests of the Christian world, as they mounted the steps of the altar, began in these divine words the Introit of the Mass: “Come ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!“
It was a fitting day for St. Bernadette as those words summarized what God was calling St. Bernadette to enjoy.
