Who is the patron saint of the United States?

Who is the patron saint of the United States?

Our Lady, under the title of her Immaculate Conception, is the patroness of the United States.

How are the Immaculate Conception, Lourdes and St. Bernadette related?

In 1858, just four years after Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady appeared on 18 occasions to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France. In one of the last apparitions, that of March 25, the feast of the Annunciation and Incarnation, the Virgin revealed her name, saying, "Que soy era Immaculada Counceptiou,” which means “I am the Immaculate Conception” in the dialect of the region.

The beautiful story of the events is told in the classic film The Song of Bernadette, based on a 1941 book by the Jewish writer Franz Werfel. Werfel found refuge from the Nazis in Lourdes for 5 weeks, during which time he promised to tell the story of Bernadette if he was able to get to America, which he did.