Dominique Peyramale
Abbé Dominique Peyramale (9 January 18118 September 1877) was a Catholic priest in the town of Lourdes in France during the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes to the peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. According to Bernadette, her visions occurred at the grotto of Massabielle, just outside Lourdes. Parish priest of Lourdes Dominique Peyramale was the parish priest in Lourdes at the time of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette. Peyramale, under instructions from the bishop of Tarbes, Monsignor Bertrand-Sévère Mascarou Laurence, never visited the grotto during any of the apparitions. He therefore never saw first-hand the effects that these apparitions produced in Bernadette and the onlookers. Peyramale interviewed Bernadette on a number of occasions. On one occasion, Peyramale asked Bernadette to ask Our Lady to make the rose bush of the grotto bloom. Bernadette would also report to Peyramale that the apparition identified herself as the Immaculate Conception. Initially convinced he was dealing with a childish prank or hoax, he worked alongside the authorities in Lourdes in encouraging crowds to keep away from the grotto. Peyramale was eventually convinced that Bernadette's experiences were genuine. Later, after being instructed by his bishop to enable the faithful to