Aquero

 Today is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Lourdes Chapel, National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC

In the summer of 1964, I spent a lot of time praying in this little chapel in the crypt of the National Shrine.   It wasn't until October of 2004 that I was able to visit the actual place in France.

This is an interesting song by Leonard Cohen, who was not Catholic, about the story, with lots of personal embellishments:

Song of Bernadette      by Leonard Cohen

There was a child named Bernadette
I heard the story long ago
She saw the Queen of Heaven once
And kept the vision in her soul
No one believed what she had seen
No one believed what she heard
But there were sorrows to be here
And mercy, mercy in this world

So many hearts I find, broke like yours and mine
Torn by what we've done and can't undo
I just want to hold you, come on let me hold you
Like Bernadette would do
 
 We've been around, we fall, we fly
We mostly fall, we mostly run
And every now and then we try
To mend the damage that we've done
Tonight, tonight I just can't rest
I've got this joy inside my breast
To think that I did not forget that child
That song of Bernadette

So many hearts I find, broke like yours and mine
Torn by what we've done and can't undo
I just want to hold you, won't let me hold you
Like Bernadette would do
I just want to hold you, come on let me hold you
Like Bernadette would do

In more recent years, I read that Bernadette called the Lady "Aquero" in her Basque dialect, which means "that one there."  It was Aquero herself who identified herself to Bernadette as "I am the Immaculate Conception."