How happy was my soul, my good Mother, when I had the happiness of beholding You! I love to remember those sweet moments, spent under your gaze overflowing with kindness and mercy towards us. O Mary, keep Jesus in my heart! I no longer want to do my will, but only yours, my good Mother, because it is the same as Jesus’. O Mary, my loving Mother, here is your little daughter, who can do no more. Have compassion on me. Make me see You one day in Heaven and to remain there with You. I will do everything for Heaven. It is my homeland. There I will find my Mother in the splendour of glory and with Her I will enjoy the happiness of Jesus, safe from all harm. My Mother, in my anguish, I want to take refuge in your heart! I want to be with You at the foot of the Cross, if such is the will of your Divine Son! O my Mother, offer me to Jesus! O my Mother, take my heart and place it within the Heart of Jesus! O Mary, receive my heart as an expiatory victim for my crimes. I have broken my heart with sufferings! O my Mother, come to my aid. Grant me the grace to die to myself, to live only of Jesus and for Jesus. O my Mother, fiat! for life. Fiat! for suffering. Fiat! for death. Fiat! always, my Mother, in your loving heart!
ST. BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS. Excerpt from a writing from May of 1866
 

Above, the statue that presides over the grotto of the apparitions of Our Lady in Lourdes, France; inset, St. Bernadette Soubirous photographed in 1861 by Fr. Paul Bernadou