St. Bernadette of Lourdes and I met at the end of her story. Her body is not in Lourdes; it's in the convent in Nevers, France, where she spent the last thirteen years of her short life (she died at age 35). I saw her incorrupt body there on a pilgrimage in 2001-2002 (over Christmas break). I do not remember any longer if I'd read The Song of Bernadette
ahead of time or not. I tend to think not, since the story of her life seemed new to me as I heard it told at the convent. So my first encounter with her was a quiet one in a quiet place, hundreds of miles away from the place where she became famous.Something about her caught my imagination in a way that few other saints have. I have tried on and off to understand what it is that draws me to her, and I have never gotten very far. Her life was very different from mine; apart from our common faith, I cannot think of too many things we have in common. But I feel somehow as if I understand her, and in understanding her I understand better Jesus and His Mother, whose chosen messenger was St. Bernadette.
A few years later I did get to Lourdes. I've been in the baths (very cold!) and still have some of the water. I have knelt and prayed the Rosary where St. Bernadette knelt and prayed at the first apparition. I'd still like to get back there someday.
In the meantime, though, I've acquired a fairly extensive collection of material on St. Bernadette and Lourdes--more than I have on any other saint except the Blessed Virgin herself, I'm pretty sure.
It's odd two of the best books about Lourdes are by a Jew (Franz Werfel, The Song of Bernadette) and a Presbyterian (Ruth Cranston, Miracle of Lourdes
), but such are the facts of the matter. Much like St. Francis, St. Bernadette is able to reach across the borders of belief and speak to all sorts of people. (Perhaps there is a clue in there somewhere as to why I love her too. I'll have to think about it.)Werfel's book is deservedly famous in its own right, and all the more famous for having been turned into an Academy Award winning-movie
. The book is very readable and not overly fictionalized (Bernadette's father was perhaps not quite the hapless alcoholic it shows); the movie very watchable but somewhat more fictionalized, having a totally irrelevant love interest (though purely Platonic) thrown into the mix. Cranston's book is non-fiction and does a decent job of giving the follow-up history of Lourdes after the apparitions, including some of the most famous cures.
When all is said and done, though, the best book I know of on the apparitions and on St. Bernadette herself is René Laurentin's Bernadette Speaks: A Life of St. Bernadette Soubirous in Her Own Words
. Laurentin's aim is to cut through the layers of legend and present St. Bernadette as she was and her experiences as she lived through them. Fortunately, despite her lack of early education, St. Bernadette was a sharp observer with a strong memory and a gift for clear expression. I believe that it was reading this book that moved her up into my list of most favorite saints.St. Bernadette is not a saint simply because Our Lady appeared to her. Others have seen her and have gone on to lead normal or, sadly, very troubled lives. St. Bernadette's life was troubled, too--in fact, Our Lady warned her: "I cannot promise you happiness in this life, but in the next"--but not because she drifted from the way of sanctity. She suffered because she wanted to be faithful to the graces she had received, and the death to self that requires is not easy.
Some say that the sisters at Nevers were harsh on her, and perhaps they were, but then they had seen the sad fate of the children who had seen Our Lady at LaSalette and were determined to keep St. Bernadette from making the same mistakes. She was a willing pupil, even when she found the lessons harsh. She bore physical and spiritual suffering with next to no complaint; she did what was asked of her; she was faithful to her calling. That's why she's a saint.
