St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879)

Re: Virtues, Humility; St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879); Feast: April 16 (death); Canonized 1933 by Pope Pius XI
Fr: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0416.htm, accessed 2008 Feb 11 (highlight mine)

-- oldest of 6 children to the impoverished miller Francois
-- lived in the basement of a damp building
-- contracted cholera in 1854 and had asthma
-- at age 14: ailing, undersized, of pleasant disposition, sensitive, and a SLOW STUDENT – even stupid – but was a kind, helpful and obedient child
-- for some years, suffered greatly from suspicious disbelief of some and the tactless enthusiasm and insensitive attention of others; these TRIALS she bore with impressive patience and dignity
-- prevented by bad health to enter convent for 2 years
-- health remained fragile in convent
-- worked as infirmarian, then sacristan

“Here [convent] she was more sheltered from trying publicity, but not from the 'stuffiness' of the convent superiors nor from the tightening grip of asthma. "I am getting on with my joy," she would say. "What is that?" someone asked. "Being ill," was the reply.

“The nuns, disappointed by the simplicity of this child of nature, in whom they had expected to find a second Teresa of Ávila or another Catherine of Siena, made the peasant girl feel bitterly the scant esteem in which they held her; and even her superiors, with the aim of protecting the visionary of Lourdes from the sin of pride, were not sparing in humiliations.

“With the excuse that she was a "stupid, good-for-nothing little thing," her profession was continually delayed. God gave to the despised creature, who was punished for 13 years because of her visions, the strength to say: "You see, my story is quite simple. The Virgin made use of me, then I was put into a corner. That is now my place. There I am happy and there I remain."

“Thus, she lived out her self-effacing life, dying at the age of 35 …. The events of 1858 resulted in Lourdes becoming one of the most important pilgrim shrines in the history of Christendom, ending with the consecration of the basilica in 1876. But Saint Bernadette took no part in these developments; nor was it for her visions that she was canonized, but for the humble simplicity and religious trust that characterized her whole life (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Sandhurst, Schamoni, Trochu, Walsh, White).
Saint Bernadette is the patron saint of shepherds (White).