St. Bernadette was a young girl from Lourdes, France who experienced 18 visions of the Virgin Mary between February and July 1858. During one vision, Mary told Bernadette to dig in the ground where a spring of water emerged with healing properties. Skeptics doubted Bernadette at first due to the spring emerging where none was before. She was later canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church for her pious nature and role in the Marian apparitions at Lourdes.