15 Pilgrimage into Poverty What did they come to see? On February 25, the lady made Bernadette smaller than ever: she told her to do two things that no one could understand. She was to go crawl underneath a projecting rock and drink from the “fountain” there; and to eat some of the grass. There was no fountain. It was a small puddle, more mud than water. Bernadette scratched at it until she could drink a little, and she ate the grass, too. Imagine her muddy face, flecked with weeds. Who could believe in her visions now? Even her family lost heart. But the spring bubbled up beneath the mud. After the miraculous cure of a paralytic woman, the crowds returned, much to the chagrin of the local police. In all of this, Bernadette never put herself forward. All she did was to keep her promise to the lady, to return to the grotto, where she prayed silently, her countenance glowing with both sadness and joy. The Immaculate Conception Bernadette’s parish priest, an impatient fellow, finally told the girl to demand from the lady her name. This came after the lady had commanded a sacred procession to the grotto, and a chapel to be built at the site. The procession was the first organized pilgrimage to Lourdes. Ten thousand people were there. But Bernadette still did not know the lady’s name. She did not presume to know. She didn’t even
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