At Lourdes, Our Lady moved her rosary between her fingers

The Rosary somehow connects the different stages of Bernadette's life. Just before the apparitions, she had spent six months in Bartrès, in the countryside (fed and cared for by her former wet-nurse): one of her only joys during those six months was having the time and freedom to say her rosary while looking after a few sheep.

Bernadette continued to say her rosary all her life, and her religious sisters in Nevers attest that she recited it with fervor. Isn't this remarkable, after she had received a special prayer from the Virgin Mary meant just for herself? She could have considered that this prayer, given directly by Mary, was superior to the common and popular prayer of the rosary. Yet, as with everything she did, Bernadette wished to be and remain "like everyone else". If she, the visionary of Lourdes, did not despise the rosary, we would be very prideful to despise it!

Bernadette always liked to keep her fingers busy, and she was a marvelous embroiderer. Saying the rosary is also a manual activity. Our Lady herself moved her rosary between her fingers, even if she only moved her lips at the end of each decade, to say the Glory Be.

Bishop Jacques Perrier. February 21, 2014