This stained glass window commemorates one of the most famous apparitions of our Lady that have been approved by the Church as authentic. 

On February 11, 1858, a fourteen year-old girl named Bernadette Soubirous, claimed to have seen a strange vision while gathering firewood with a sister and a friend at Massabielle.  It was in a rocky area at the foot of the Pyrenees, south of France, where her hometown of Lourdes was located.  In the course of about eighteen apparitions, the Lady gave Bernadette two public messages; the first was an urgent call to PENANCE, and the second was to ask the ecclesiastical authorities to build a chapel at the site of her appearance.  The skeptical parish priest, Abbe Permaile, finally believed Bernadette when after asking about her identity many times, the Lady finally told Bernadette, “I am the Immaculate Conception,” a name that meant nothing to the village girl.  A spring of water was also uncovered which proved miraculous after which an incredible resurgence of faith became evident in the community. 

In 1862, after exhaustive investigations, the Bishop of Tarbes declared the apparition authentic and soon a huge church, now a sprawling basilica that draws millions of pilgrims annually, was dedicated on the apparition site. 

Bernadette became a nun, a Sister of Charity and died in 1877 after a relatively short life marked with more than her fair share of challenges brought on by this singular experience.  In 1926, she was declared a SAINT.  The devotion to our Lady of Lourdes on Guam is evident not only with  the  parish of Yigo having her as the titular patroness, but also with the “grottoes” replicated in many private homes and gardens. This stained-glass window attempts to capture the drama of that first  apparition. 

Artistic license was taken though in depicting the Lady’s Rosary Beads as brown  instead of white and the roses on her feet as red instead of golden.  The grotto or cave is simply represented by the rocky ledge with the lady standing close to the miraculous brook flowing between the lady and Bernadette.  The halo of stars around the lady’s head, which was not part of the apparition, is simply the artist’s way of designating Mary throughout the window scheme - based on Saint John’s vision as recounted in the Book of Revelations.  Similarly, the “ribbon” of clouds/mist can be seen in all the windows as a “mystical cord” that binds or unifies the scenes and themes depicted in the different window.