February 11

On This Day In History
	1858: St. Bernadette's first visions of Mary at Lourdes On this day in 1858 in Lourdes, France, 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, a miller's daughter, first had visions of the Virgin Mary that were authenticated by Pope Pius IX in 1862, initiating the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Detail of a statue of the Virgin Mary
Biography Of The Day
	René Descartes Often called the father of modern philosophy, French scientist, mathematician, and philosopher René Descartes, who erected new epistemic foundations with the dictum "I think, therefore I am," died this day in 1650.
René Descartes, lithograph, 19th century
More Events On This Day In History
1989	1989 Reverend Barbara Harris of the Protestant Episcopal Church became the first female bishop of an apostolic succession church.
	1945 The Yalta Conference between the Allied leaders of World War II came to a close.
1929	1929 A committee met in Paris to devise the Young Plan, a revision of the Dawes Plan of 1924, that renegotiated Germany's reparations for World War I.
	1929 Benito Mussolini of Italy and Pietro Gasparri of the Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty, recognizing papal sovereignty over Vatican City, an enclave in Rome.
	1847 American inventor Thomas Edison, who, singly or jointly, held a world record of 1,093 patents and who played a critical role in introducing the modern age of electricity, was born.