Do you have a hero?   Do you display memorabilia of this person?   Do you look to this person as a role model?   Christian heroes are called Saints.   God's "holy ones" in the Old Testament surrounded his throne. Psalm 89:6,8.   The Israelites were called to "Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." Lev. 19:2.   The New Testament speaks of the faithful who have died as "saints." Thes. 3:13.   Paul reminds the first Christians that we are all called to be saints. Eph. 2:19.

      The Church community eventually recognized some of its members as exceptional "Saints."   These Saints are venerated, not adored.   Saints intercede with God in the same way living people pray for us.   Pictures, statues and other memorabilia are displayed to honor our heroes and remind us to be saints today.

      St. Bernadette Soubirous, the patron saint of our parish, was a nun of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers.   She is the saint of Lourdes, France.   Visionary and messenger of the Immaculate Conception, she told us the very words of the Virgin Mary, spoken in the native Basque tongue of Southern France and Northern Spain.   She spoke words teaching of the merits of prayer, penance, poverty and church.   She was born on January 7, 1844 near Lourdes in France and died on April 16, 1879. The Vatican officially declared her a Saint on December 8, 1933, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, by Pope Pius XI.