Imperishable Saint Bernadette. Saint Bernadette there is always room for a miracle in life

A simple girl, Maria Bernarda Sibur, had an extraordinary fate. She saw the Virgin Mary, became a Catholic saint, an incorruptible relic, which represents a miracle of God and an incomprehensible mystery of science

Bernadette Soubirous said: “I had no right to this mercy. The Blessed Virgin took me as one picks up a pebble from the road...” Indeed, the eldest daughter of a miller and a washerwoman did not stand out from her peers in any way, until on February 11, 1858, while collecting all sorts of things for a junk shop near the city of Lourdes, she saw a miracle. The grotto located nearby lit up with light, and “something white, similar to a young lady” appeared in it.
Over the next few months, Bernadette saw the vision in the grotto seventeen more times. At first the figure remained silent, then, calling for repentance and prayer for sinners, he ordered a chapel to be built at the site of the apparitions. She said “the young lady” and her name: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
Upon learning of what had happened, the local priest was dismayed. Uneducated Bernadette could not have known the dogma of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, proclaimed by the Vatican literally a few years before the events described. (We are talking about the liberation of Mary at the moment of her own conception from the power of original sin, to which all people are subject, as the descendants of Adam and Eve). The representative of the authorities also absolutely did not know what to do or think. The strange girl was interrogated for many hours, threatened with prison, the local newspaper made fun of her, wrote about “a girl, by all indications, susceptible to catalepsy, exciting the curiosity of the Lourdes population.” There was something else. When word of the miracle spread throughout the area, people began to follow Bernadette in crowds, watched for hours as she prayed at the grotto, tried to get closer, touch her with her hand, kiss the hem of her clothes.
It was not until 1862 that the Lourdes apparitions were officially recognized by the church. A pilgrimage began to the grotto and the source, which does not stop to this day. Bernadette became a nun in 1868 and lived in the monastery of the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, caring for the sick and doing handicrafts.
In 1879 she died of tuberculosis.

Place of pilgrimage
On March 1, 1858, in the cave where the Mother of God appeared to the girl, the first miracle occurred. Bernadette's friend stuck her sore hand into the spring and received healing. The second thing was that it restored the old man’s sight. Immediately the fame of the Lourdes Grotto spread to all corners and villages.
Emile Zola wrote: “...not only France, all of Europe, the whole world set out on the journey, and in some years of special religious upsurge there were from three hundred to five hundred thousand people there.” Now the site of the appearance of the Virgin Mary is visited annually by five to six million people, pilgrims and tourists. As for miraculous healings, there is a special medical bureau in Lourdes that records and verifies every fact of healing using miraculous water from the source. Since 1858, doctors have registered 6,800 such cases, but only 66 received official confirmation, having undergone a 15-year audit, during which the health status of the patient was constantly monitored. In the near future, two more miraculous healings: a 25-year-old French woman and a 60-year-old Italian man are awaiting official recognition.
The latest officially recognized case concerns the Frenchman, 51-year-old Jean-Pierre Beli. In 1972 he was paralyzed, but after a pilgrimage to Lourdes he got out of his wheelchair and began to walk. Doctors did not find a scientific explanation for what happened. But it is not required. Pilgrims are still driven by faith.

After death
After the burial, due to mandatory church rules, Bernadette's coffin was opened three times. In 1909, it turned out that the body was perfectly preserved, remained elastic and undamaged, as doctors and witnesses noted in the protocol. After exhumation, the body was placed in a new, double oak coffin (the previous one was zinc), which was closed, sealed and placed back into the original tomb. A second survey in 1919 found the same thing as the first. The remains were not subject to decay! As a result, Pope Pius XI made a conclusion about the “heroic degree of virtues” of Bernadette Soubirous, thereby opening the way to beatification (the stage preceding canonization).
The third time the coffin was opened in 1925, 46 years and two days after Bernadette's death. Dr. Comte, a participant in the last exhumation, wrote: “... Bernadette’s body was incorruptible (undamaged) ... completely unaffected by the processes of rotting and decomposition, which were quite natural after being in a coffin for such a long time, taken out of the ground...”. Here is another quote from the same Dr. Comte: “When examining the body, I was surprised by the perfectly preserved skeleton, all the ligaments, skin, as well as the elasticity and firmness of the muscle tissue... But most of all, my amazement was caused by the condition of the liver 46 years after death. This organ, so fragile and delicate, would very soon undergo decomposition or calcify and harden. Meanwhile, having extracted it for the purpose of obtaining relics (fragments of the liver, muscles, and two ribs were taken from the relics), I discovered that it had an elastic, normal consistency. I immediately showed it to my assistants, telling them that this fact went beyond the natural order of things.”
In the summer of 1925, Bernadette's body was placed in a transparent sarcophagus, which was installed in the monastery chapel, to the right of the main altar. Blessed Bernadette's canonization took place in 1933 in the Vatican.

Imperishable relics
According to church canons, the incorruption of the body is not a sign of holiness, but it best confirms a pious life. Therefore, we will not touch on the religious aspects of this topic. Let's talk abstractly.
A body that has not undergone posthumous changes is considered incorruptible. Until recently, the body of Pope John XXIII was recognized as such. However, the church itself, after conducting research, noted a deviation from the canons. It turned out that the body was embalmed, and no oxygen entered the sealed triple coffin, which, stopping the decomposition process, allowed the remains to be perfectly preserved since 1963.
Another wonderful example also has its own compromising component. Paramahansa Yogananda, the famous yogi, passed away in Los Angeles in May 1952. “The absence of any visible signs of decomposition of the dead body of Paramahansa Yogananda is a unique case in our experience... Signs of physical decay were not noticeable even twenty days after death... No signs of mold were visible on the skin of his body, and the tissues did not dry out. This state of complete incorruptibility, as far as we know from the annals of funerals, is an unprecedented case. Upon receiving Yogananda's body, the mortuary staff expected to see the usual progressive signs of decomposition, which could be observed through the glass lid of the coffin. Our amazement increased every day, since no noticeable changes occurred in the body. It was clearly in a phenomenal, incorruptible state...There was no smell of decay...there was no reason to claim that his body was suffering from any kind of physical decay at all. Therefore, we reiterate that the case of Paramahansa Yogananda is unique in our practice,” wrote the director of the Los Angeles morgue where the yogi’s body was temporarily placed. However, there is information that the yogi’s body was embalmed.
Another incorruptible body is considered to be the body of Hambo Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov, who died in 1927. The exhumation carried out in 2002 created a world sensation. Itigelov had all the signs of a living body: soft skin, no signs of rotting, his nose and ears were not damaged, his eyes were not leaking, his fingers and elbow joints were mobile, his body was fragrant. However, today the picture is no longer the same. The llama's body increasingly resembles a mummy.
And here is what the local communist newspaper Kurskaya Pravda wrote about the opening of the shrine with the relics of St. Joseph of Belgorod on December 1, 1920: “The audience present was amazed at the high degree of preservation of the body, which had lain in the coffin for 166 years. People thought that this was the result of artificial mummification, and they asked the doctor to cut open the stomach to make sure of its contents. (During artificial embalming, the entrails are necessarily removed, clarifies www.oracle-today.ru). The surgeon made an incision and removed part of the intestines, which were completely dry, which proves the naturalness of the mummification process.”
As a result, the relics of St. Joseph of Belgorod were sent for research to Moscow, since local experts were unable to explain the phenomenon of excellent preservation of the body buried in the mid-18th century. It seemed as if the man had died not a century and a half ago, but literally yesterday. The relics were placed on display in the anatomical museum, but crowds of believers began to flock to it and the atheistic “show” had to be interrupted.

Hypotheses
Experts claim that there is a materialistic explanation for the phenomenon of incorruptible relics. There are places on earth whose natural conditions contribute to “conservation.” For example: the Capuchin catacombs in Palermo and Malta, the basements of St. Michael's Church in Dublin, the Kyiv Caves, etc. However, not all bodies are preserved in these unique areas.
Popular embalming agents include alcohol, formaldehyde, honey, sand, salt, radiation and other complex natural processes and phenomena. But their action is not universal. Therefore, although there are arguments, it is not possible to formulate a scientific concept regarding incorruptibility.
Scientists have also tried to summarize the signs of truly incorruptible remains. The list is not long at all: an undecomposed body, a persistent aroma, the presence of paranormal effects. For example, a glow, a phenomenon in dreams or the “prophecies” of Hambo Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov. But none of these properties can be analyzed or solved.
As for the body of Saint Bernadette, its unique preservation is also not absolute. The Church does not hide the fact that the saint’s face is covered with wax. It seems that after the second exhumation, the process of mummification began, the body was already very dry and began to darken, so it was covered with a protective mask. Which allowed skeptics to believe that a wax figure was on display. A similar opinion was held by the magazine “Revolution and the Church” in 1920, when it published the report of the VIII Department of the People's Commissariat of Justice to the Congress of Soviets on the results of the “check” of the holy Orthodox saints. However, other sources indicate the opposite. When the relics of St. Alexander of Svir were discovered, witnesses were amazed: “I expected to see dense compressed fabric, but instead, on the cut... I saw that under a layer of wax-colored skin there was snow-white, porous and soft tissue... this fabric was striking in its whiteness, looseness and airiness.” The Bolsheviks wrote with rapture about the wax doll found in the cancer.
“Such a result cannot be achieved by any means of artificial embalming. During embalming, the tissues thicken and darken, but here there is looseness, snow-whiteness, and even inside under the surface layer of the epidermis - human minds and hands do not master such a differentiated art of embalming,” this is what the experts wrote when they had the opportunity to examine the body of the great Orthodox saint. What followed was a more than logical conclusion: the state of the flesh of St. Alexander - his holy relics are beyond the competence of science and cannot be described by ordinary processes at the level of cells and tissues.
The same applies to the incorrupt body of Saint Bernadette. No matter what atheists claim, a thin layer of wax is not able to stop the process of decay. It is obvious. Therefore, since harmony cannot be verified by algebra, one should not confuse righteous and sinful. Miracles have happened and will continue to happen. But whether to believe in them or not is a personal matter for everyone.

This girl died 135 years ago. Now she lies in a glass coffin. The shadow of death did not touch her face. She seems to be sleeping in a sound, peaceful sleep and, like a sleeping princess, is waiting for her prince to wake her up with a tender kiss.

The phenomenon of the “white young lady”

Maria Bernarda (or Bernadette) Soubirous born on January 7, 1844 in a village near the French city of Lourdes into a poor family. Her father was a miller and her mother was a laundress. Bernadette was the eldest of five children to survive childhood. They lived in such poverty that the girl was unable to receive any education, and at the age of 12 she was forced to take a job as a servant.

On February 11, 1858, Bernadette went with her sister and friend to buy firewood. Suddenly she heard a slight noise and saw that the nearby grotto was illuminated by a gentle, living light, and the rosehip bush at the entrance was swaying as if from the wind. In the illuminated grotto, “something white, similar to a young lady” appeared to the girl (her companions did not notice anything).

Over the next six months, the “white young lady” appeared to Bernadette 17 more times. During 11 apparitions, she did not say anything, then she called for repentance and prayer for sinners and ordered a chapel to be built on this site.

After several persistent requests from Bernadette to say her name, the “young lady” finally answered: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” This answer confused the local priest: an illiterate girl, who was not even given the catechism, could not have known about the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, proclaimed four years earlier by Pope Pius IX, and, therefore, she did not invent anything.

The “young lady” ordered Bernadette to dig a hole in the corner of the grotto, from which a spring with healing water then emerged. Crowds of pilgrims flocked to Lourdes, eager for healing.

In 1868, Bernadette entered a convent in Nevers, where she cared for the sick and did handicrafts. She believed that there was no merit of her own in the fact that the Mother of God appeared to her: “I had no right to this mercy. The Blessed Virgin took me as one picks up a pebble from the road... If the Blessed Virgin chose me, it was because I was the most ignorant. If she had found someone even more ignorant than me, she would have chosen her.”

Miracle of Saint Bernadette

On April 16, 1879, Maria Bernarda died of tuberculosis, having lived only 35 years. On April 19, she was buried in a galvanized oak coffin.

Meanwhile, rumors about the poor girl to whom the Mother of God appeared and about the miraculous power of the Lourdes spring spread throughout France, and the question arose about the canonization of Maria Bernarda. To do this, it was necessary to carry out a canonical examination of the body of the deceased. On September 22, 1909, the exhumation took place. A detailed official report on this is in the archives of the Saint-Gildar monastery. It states that at 8:30 a.m. the coffin was opened in the presence of Monsignor Gautier, Bishop of Nevers, as well as members of the diocesan tribunal.

When the coffin lid was removed, Bernadette's perfectly preserved body was found. Her face radiated with girlish beauty, her eyes were closed, as if she were immersed in a calm sleep, and her lips were slightly open. The head was slightly bowed to the left, the hands were folded on the chest and entwined with heavily rusted rosaries; her skin, from under which the veins were visible, adhered to the tissues in perfect condition; Likewise, the fingernails and toenails were in excellent condition.

A detailed examination of the body was carried out by two doctors. Upon removal of her vestments, Bernadette's entire body looked as if it were alive, elastic and intact in every part. After the study, a protocol was drawn up with the signatures of doctors and witnesses. The sister nuns washed and dressed the body in new vestments, and then placed it in a new, double coffin, which was closed, sealed and placed again in the original tomb.

Exhumation was carried out twice more - in 1919 and 1925, and again the body turned out to be incorrupt. After this, the remains were placed in a reliquary in the Chapel of St. Bernadette in Nevere. Beatification (the rite of beatification) took place on June 14, 1925, canonization on December 8, 1933. Saint Bernadette's Feast Day is April 16th. In France, her day is also celebrated on February 18th.

The site of the appearance of the Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette has become one of the main centers of Catholic pilgrimage. Up to five million pilgrims come to Lourdes every year. Sources in the Catholic Church claim that in the first 50 years of pilgrimage alone, at least 4,000 people received complete cures for a variety of illnesses. On the site of the grotto of the apparition, the temple of Notre-Dame de Lourdes was erected.

Beautiful fairy tale

The condition of Saint Bernadette's body contradicts all the laws of nature and science. 135 years after death, only one skeleton should remain from the body. After the heart stops, blood stops circulating, body cells do not receive oxygen and die within a few minutes. The decomposition of a body depends largely on the conditions in which it is exposed, but usually the process begins within a few days.

After a few weeks, the hair and nails separate from the body. After a few months, the body tissues take on a liquid form. After a year, the body usually remains only a skeleton and teeth and only traces of tissue. The body of Saint Bernadette is not in the least subject to processes of decomposition - neither external nor internal - and to this day retains amazing freshness and beauty.

Miracle? But what is a miracle? This is what we call something that human reason and science in its modern state cannot give a clear explanation.

Relics - the remains of saints of the Christian Church - have been the object of religious veneration in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches from time immemorial. But for the most part, the relics are skeletal bones or dried bodies that have undergone natural mummification under special burial conditions (for example, in the dry and cold climate of the caves of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery).

There are two main positions that explain the excellent preservation of the human body after death. The Church believes that the bodies of the saints did not undergo decomposition by the will of God, who preserved the relics incorruptible specifically for the believers. In addition, it is believed that the remains of God’s saints contain grace that can heal illnesses.

Science believes that the safety of a corpse directly depends on the conditions in which it was kept. If it is dry soil that absorbs liquid well, and a cool climate, then the body has a better chance of being preserved (mummification) than if it were in a humid environment. In addition, there are a number of ways to slow down decomposition (for example, embalming, known since ancient times).

Of particular note is saponification - the process of turning human fat into wax (fat wax). In this case, the body after death completely retains its weight (unlike the process of mummification) and may outwardly appear incorruptible. Although, of course, it is not.

But Bernadette's body lay in a damp grave for 30 years. And there are no signs of decomposition or mummification on it. That is, it is incorruptible. Her facial features are completely preserved, her hands have not changed at all, even her nails look flawless. Without any doubt - a miracle. But only for believers. For scientists, nothing is sacred. After conducting research, they found that the excellent preservation of the body was not explained by a miracle, but by ordinary human intervention, namely, wax, which was applied in a thin layer to Bernadette’s dried face during the second exhumation, completely repeating its features.

But what about the hands and other parts of the body, which are also preserved in impeccable condition? Scientists have found an explanation here too. They believe that the relics of the real Saint Bernadette have long been kept in a nearby crypt (just in case), and only... a wax figure is on display in a glass coffin. In this case, perhaps only the face and hands. Everything else is hidden by clothing. And now pilgrims are watching the wax figure from a respectful distance (since visitors are not allowed close to the glass coffin with Bernadette’s “body”).

If you look closely at two photographs of Bernadette (shortly before her death and today), you might even think that over the many years of her “imperishable” existence, our heroine has become even more beautiful and transformed. Moreover, the facial features of modern Bernadette in no way coincide with the facial features of the same saint, only 130 years ago.

It is noteworthy that all the saints were allowed to be filmed from different angles: without coffins, clothes, etc. Everyone except Bernadette. Why? The answer seems obvious - the Catholic Church is trying in every possible way to preserve the beautiful fairy tale about a young girl to whom the Mother of God herself appeared during her life and who, after death, was able to defeat the laws of nature and managed to preserve (and even transform) her body. It continues to attract crowds of pilgrims from all over the world and brings popularity to the Catholic faith.

Mikhail YUREV

If in one and the same story life-defining elements are tightly connected - air, water and grass, woven into a single scroll of events by the power that dominates them - prayer, this story certainly concerns all life on the planet.

And it doesn’t matter whether you are a deeply religious person, a militant atheist, a skeptic naturalist, or a trainee ecologist turbulent between the earthly and spiritual, whether you trust written sources, oral rumor, the conclusions of venerable doctors and eminent chemists - if you live on planet Earth and are going to to preserve for descendants in relative purity all that is life-defining from the above - air, water, grass, united by a prayer for salvation, you should know this story.

The phenomenon in the air saturates with unknown information the most familiar element, but completely unknown to man - water, which transmits this information to people, again according to a sign unknown to them: this, and not that, one, but not another.

And the revelation itself is given to the child who has tasted the herbs at the newborn source...

This is a very strange story. And even if you don't believe her, you need to know about her

(NB Each replica of direct speech in the text is borrowed from official sources and translated verbatim).

...Once upon a time the Soubirous family had a mill. And, in general, everything was not so bad: a marriage for love, the first desired child - little Bernadette, strong family attachments, grandmothers, aunties - a poor, but warm and reliable home. Firewood and bread. An honest name and hopes for stability. Minor troubles, without major shocks.

But the “heiress” was not even a year old (as the firstborn was always called according to local customs), when minor troubles began to condense into more significant misfortunes.

On a November evening in 1844, mother Louise, expecting her second child, having fallen asleep from exhaustion in a chair next to the fireplace, comes to her senses from the pain of burns: a candle suspended from a beam fell on her chest. Bernadette, still in need of mother's milk, is found a wet nurse. Not far from home, in a village on one of the hills gently sloping down to the Soubirous mill, a woman named Marie Lague had just lost her newborn son - the boy lived only 18 days. She becomes attached to Bernadette so much that when the parents want to take the baby back, the unfortunate nurse begs them to leave her the child and even offers to support the girl for free.

Jean, Bernadette's little brother, will be born on February 13 and die on April 10, 1845, and Marie Lagu will return Bernadette to her parents finally on April 1, 1846, making sure that she herself is finally pregnant again..

Life in the Soubirous family gurgles, without any special events, until 1848, like flowing water, winding a mill wheel. And millstones, like people, are worn out by constant friction, and they need to be “grinded” from time to time to make them more rough. With a hammer and iron. All millers know and do this. Bernadette's father was simply unlucky: a too-sharp fragment flew off too far, and he lost his left eye. Until the end of his life, François Soubirous will slightly tilt his head and squint so that his “flawedness” is not so noticeable...

But this, of course, was experienced and continued further, but from that very moment it was customary for official biographers of the Soubirous family to compare the “chain of misfortunes that befell it” with the almost complete set of Job. It happens. This happened to many people.

Things are getting worse at the mill, although there is work, and there is a lot of work. There is no “business spirit” in the Soubirous family, no business acumen, no ability to categorically refuse or demand. They lend money and flour “until the next harvest.” They don't refuse credit. They do not spare donations for charitable needs, while they themselves are in more and more need. Everyone who comes to the mill eats with the owners, everyone is greeted warmly, tightening their own belt ever tighter. A certain underlying feeling of carelessness among the owners repels “respectable” clients and attracts malicious defaulters... Soon it will no longer be possible to make ends meet...

The “Pyrenean Directory” of 1856 states that for a family of 5 people, the “living wage” - that is, the one that simply allows you not to die of hunger - was 523 francs per year. The Soubirous family numbered 6 people by that time: Toinette (1846), Jean-Marie (1851) and Justin (1855) were born and survived.

The father, François, after the grinding that befell the family, now earns more and more by “selling his own labor power” - arms, legs, back - at a reasonable price, on average 1.20 francs per day. This is cheaper than horsepower - 1.55 francs.

Mother, Louise, also does not disdain any kind of household and agricultural work: cleaning, washing, bending over in the surrounding fields, with wealthier neighbors. Bernadette brings her newborn Justin to feed her in the field, and the emaciated woman most often does not have milk. Of her nine children, five will not live to be ten years old.

When Louise doesn't have a job, the two eldest daughters go to collect wood for kindling, animal bones washed up on the muddy banks of the local LeGave River, and, if you're very lucky, iron fragments - everything that's for pennies, but real pennies, buys from them rag dealer Letchina, from the town of Barrau.

In 1854, Pope Pius IX first proclaimed the dogma of the “Immaculate Conception.” Bernadette is 10 years old and her family is forced to finally leave the once happy mill of their short childhood.

In the fall of 1855, Lourdes was hit by a cholera epidemic, which, although it passed the Soubirous family, still affected Bernadette in a mild form and greatly undermined her already fragile health: from that moment on, chronic asthma would never leave her.

In 1856, the Attorney General of Pau (who has jurisdiction over Lourdes and the surrounding area) sends a “confidential” alarming report to Paris about less than a third of the expected grain harvest and impending famine. Children from “very poor” families scrape off the melted wax in churches and eat it “like baby rats.” Bernadette's little brother is somehow caught doing this.

For some time, the life of the Soubirous family will be subject to wave-like fluctuations between minor improvements and inexorable recessions, sharp deterioration and balanced poverty, with gradual moves to increasingly “modest” abodes...

The year 1858 will find them at the last threshold of descent - in the most impoverished, damp and miserable home (“a disgusting dark hole,” writes prosecutor Dutour in a report dated March 1, 1858). Once uninhabited due to inhumane conditions, the premises of the local prison, empty since 1824, “Le Cachot”. The cast-iron bars from the only window had long been removed, but this did not add any light or fresh air to the “room”, and in no way weakened the suffocating smell of rot and chicken droppings, which stood like a heavy curtain in front of the window, on a narrow and dirty road sloping down to the river. street.

In the only room (3.72 X 4, 40 sq m): two beds (for six), a table, two chairs, a tiny wardrobe and a chest. Cleanly swept and washed. The lice and worms that had settled in the piles of straw where poor Spanish workers who came to work seasonally from the nearby Pyrenees Mountains once slept on the floor had to be thoroughly scrubbed out.

The family continues to “eke out” existence in such conditions.

Forced to either help distant relatives with the housework, or herd lambs in a nearby pasture, or take care of household chores and the younger children in her own corner, Bernadette will never be able to learn to read and write and will never attend catechism classes.

As numerous subsequent “expertises” will establish, by the time the “apparitions” began, she “did not have the slightest idea about the Holy Trinity, she knew about Holy History from hearsay, but “she revered it with childlike sincerity,” with all her inexperienced and unassuming soul. By heart, almost without notes, I knew only “Our Father.”

In February 1858 she was about 14 years old.

Bernadette Soubirous, photography

Cold, cloudy and damp.

Around eleven in the morning one of the children noticed that there was no firewood left in the house. Bernadette, Toinette and the neighbor girl Jeanne Abadie, nicknamed "Balum", go on a search. Three pairs of clogs will tap along the cobblestone street, until the stone arch of Bau, where the road leaves the city and goes beyond the distant fields, along the river, between the hills crowding on both sides.

A little lower, where LeGave merges with the mill canal, on the left, a steep gray mountain rises gloomily, with a small cave at its base. The stream approaches the very entrance, and driftwood and the whitening bones of some animal are clearly visible on the recently washed clay. The children are heading there. This place is called Massabielle, which means “old block” in the local dialect.

The cave is black with dirt, and everything around is dim and dank from cold and damp. Who wants to wade through icy water? But the branches and snags visible under the arches are the only thing that will bring warmth into the house.

The water here is just above your ankles. Zhanna is the first to take off her clogs, throw them across the narrow stream in this place and wade, holding the hem. Toinette starts after her. Bernadette remains alone on the shore, not daring to violate her mother’s categorical prohibition about wet feet due to her “terrible asthma.”

- Help me throw stones, I’ll cross too!

“Pet de pericle!” Zhanna answers irritably, repeating her father’s favorite curse word. - Walk like us!

Large flat stones scattered here and there lie too far from one another to cross without getting your feet wet.

“Then,” Bernadette will tell you, “I returned to the shallowest place in front of the cave and began to take off my shoes. I was taking off my stocking when I heard such a noise... like a gust of wind..."

She looks around. Everything is quiet. The branches of poplars growing along the shore are motionless. There is no wind around.

Bernadette bends down to remove the second stocking. Again the same noise - “like a gust of wind.” But this time, opposite it, you can clearly see how a climbing wild rose (Rosa canina) is swaying, near a small niche, to the right above the cave, about three meters from the ground.

A “quiet light” appears in a usually dark niche, and in this soft radiation the silhouette of a woman in white appears.

Bernadette is overcome by a feeling of numbness, “but not like fear,” rather, a strong fascination. The vision in the niche exudes an incomparable and therefore indescribable grace: “a smile, tenderness, a welcoming call.”

Bernadette is increasingly enveloped by the feeling of a wonderful dream in which she “really wants to be.” Several times she tries to rub her eyes, but the vision does not disappear, just as the blessed feeling of a “full tenderness of a smile” does not disappear.

“Then,” Bernadette will tell you, “I put my hand in my pocket and felt the rosary. I wanted to cross myself. But she couldn’t raise her hand; she kept falling. I began to tremble and my hand trembled... And then the Vision crossed itself. And I tried to do it again. And I did it too. And as soon as I was able to cross myself, I stopped shaking. I knelt down and began to read a prayer, fingering my rosary. This lady also had rosary beads in her hands and she also fingered them, but her lips did not move. When I finished, she motioned for me to come over. But I didn't dare. Then she suddenly disappeared..."

A gray, cold rock, a dark niche and nothing more.

Bernadette finally takes off her second stocking, grabs her shoes, and quickly fords the river to the cave.

At the entrance, Jeanne and Toinette, chatting, continue to collect brushwood and larger pieces of wood. Two large armfuls are stacked in the driest place, on the left. They saw Bernadette kneeling with her rosary.

- “Has she gone crazy, praying here! - Zhanna grumbled, - As if the church is not enough!

It starts to drizzle. The girls pile up the last armfuls of twigs and dance under the arch to keep warm.

“You didn’t see anything?” Bernadette asks, still in some stupor.

- “What did you see?”

Bernadette begins to realize something exceptional and falls silent. But on the way home, he can’t resist and asks again:

-You still haven’t seen anything?

- What did you see?

- There is nothing…

This time, the younger sister’s curiosity is piqued, and Toinette will extract the whole short story from her before reaching the house, but she won’t believe it too much:

“You came up with this to scare me, but I’m not scared!”

That same evening she will tell her mother that “Bernadette saw a white lady in the Massabielle cave.”

After everything she had experienced in recent years, each new “event” was greeted by Louise as a harbinger of a new misfortune:

- Good God! Poor me (Praoube de you)! Tell me, what did you see there?!

Bernadette's throat tightens:

“White... (Du blanc),” she answers.

-You saw the white stone! May your feet never be there again! - the mother is indignant.

Lying down after a whole day of hard work, the father adds:

“Until now, nothing bad has been said about the family, no stories, don’t even think about starting one!”

In the evening, during prayer, Bernadette suddenly becomes overwhelmed with great excitement and quietly cries. The alarmed mother once again asks in detail about the “vision”, then runs and brings her neighbor friend and asks again, together with her. Both of them reassure Bernadette: it was still a dream, she was faint from fatigue and cold, she was dreaming... there is no need to go to the “Old Lump” anymore...

Bernadette has always been an obedient child. The next day, Friday, by her own admission, she would be “very strongly drawn there,” but she would not break her promise to her mother and would not say a word more about what happened at the cave. Louise will calm down: her daughter is forgetting her “fantasies”...

But already on Saturday evening, Bernadette will slip into the church closest to the house and wait until, in the twilight of the confessional, Abbot Pomian blesses the last confessors. When he hears a child speak through the patterned lattice in the local Lourdes dialect, he will never interrupt the girl and listen carefully to the end:

- “...I saw something white that looked like a lady...”

What will surprise the abbot most of all is the “extraordinary coherence of the child’s speech,” and the moment in the description that mentions a “gust of wind” (“Couomo u cop de bén” - comme un coup de vent). This will remind him of the “gust of wind” on Whitsunday, in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2.

The abbot will not attach much importance to Bernadette's story, but will still ask permission to retell this confession to her local priest. Embarrassed by such an “honorable” treatment of her, Bernadette agrees.

That same evening, the story will be conveyed to Abbot Peyramal, who will also not attach much importance to it and will only absentmindedly say: “We’ll wait and see...” before the conversation moves on to more important subjects...

But at the “school for the poor”, at the monastic hospice, Toinette and Jeanne had already chatted about what had happened to several girlfriends.

On Sunday, February 14, after morning mass, a group of girls in darned dresses decide to go see what Bernadette saw at the Old Glyba. In fact, they are a little scared to go there... And it’s scary to break a parental ban. They still ask permission from Louise, who, brushing it off, sends them to Francois, who is currently cleaning the horses of the owner of the local stagecoach, Caznave.

Francois is also against this expedition, but Kaznav supports the girls in a fatherly way:

- Well, what bad can the Lady with the Rosary do? Plus, it's very close...

And Francois reluctantly gives in.

Just in case, curious people take with them a bottle of holy water...

Bernadette is the first to rush headlong down the slippery slope and throw herself on her knees in front of the niche. The girls who ran up next will notice that she, an asthmatic, does not look out of breath at all.

- Well, you scattered!..

She can't hear anyone and has already taken out her little cheap rosary beads for the poor. He begins to pray. The rest stand silently nearby.

A few minutes later, Bernadette's face inexplicably changes.

- "Here she is! (Guérat-la!= Là-voilà)…she has a rosary on her wrist…She’s looking at you…”

Her friends don't see anything. A girl named Marie Illo slips a bottle of holy water under her elbow. Bernadette takes the bottle and energetically splashes it towards the vision, calling: “if you are from God, stay, if not, leave!...”

“But the more I splashed the water, the more she smiled,” Bernadette will tell you, “and in the end, I poured out the whole bottle...”

The girls notice how unnaturally Bernadette's face has turned white. She doesn't seem to see or hear anything around her. They get scared. At this moment, a cobblestone rolls down from the hill behind them with a roar and everyone rushes scattering with squeals. Except for the kneeling Bernadette.

The cobblestone was launched by Zhanna “Balum”, who was hiding above, but she, too, feels uneasy at the sight of her motionless friend. Several girls try to drag Bernadette along with them, but they cannot move her from her place. She doesn't react at all. You will need the help of the nearest miller Nicolo, who will simply take her in his arms like a sack of flour and drag her up the path.

He will tell you that the small and fragile Bernadette seemed incredibly heavy to him and frightened him with complete detachment from everything that was happening around: “ I tried to close her eyes with my hand and turn her head so that she would stop looking there, but she kept turning away and kept staring, and smiled, as if spellbound...»

Rumors are scattering throughout the city, just like the girls are scattering...

The next day, at the “school for the poor,” Bernadette receives an angry retort from Mother Ursula Fardes: “Are you going to finish your tricks soon?!”, along with a generous slap in the face and a promise that if she continues “her stories,” she will “be sent to hell.” should"...

Sister Damien Calmels also calls Bernadette over to hear the story from herself. Bernadette already regrets that she didn’t keep silent about everything and is trying to get out: “I don’t know how to speak French...” (at that time, she really only spoke in the local Lourdes dialect, which was very sensitively different from the French language).

But the girls are chatting vying with each other, and she, willy-nilly, has to refute their inventions: no, there was no “bouquet of flowers”, she was holding a rosary... no, she was all in white, but it seems she had a blue belt... no, this lady didn’t say anything to her, she didn’t talk at all... and no one followed them along the path...

How Bernadette regrets that she didn’t keep silent right away!

On Tuesday, February 16, one of Louise Soubirous' employers, the widow Mile, a fifty-year-old respectable lady, appears in the Soubirous family's closet. Her dressmaker told her about what had happened and she had an idea: is it the ghost of the recently deceased young Elisa Latapi who appears in the Massabielle cave? Everyone in the area loved this lovely girl so much! We should find out if the soul of the unfortunate woman wants to convey something!

Madame Miele knows how to quickly get her way: the day after tomorrow, at dawn, she, together with the daughter of the local bailiff, will come for Bernadette and they will go to the cave together...

After the morning mass, Madame Miele, the daughter of the local bailiff, Antoinette and Bernadette leave the city and head to the cave. At the direction of Madame Mile, Antoinette carries with her a bottle of ink and a sheet of paper with a writing board: you cannot rely on the “dark”, illiterate Bernadette, let the “lady” write her name herself.

As soon as she knelt down in front of the niche and began to pray, Bernadette turns pale:

“She’s there!...” the girl whispers.

Antoinette hands her a tablet and a pen. Bernadette gets up and goes to the very niche. The vision, she will say, came down to her at that very moment, “like light from a crevice.” Bernadette brings the writing utensils closer to the “lady,” who remains invisible to everyone else. Bernadette's lips move, but no one hears a sound. Madame Miele begins to get nervous and tries to intervene, but Bernadette signals her not to move, or not to talk, or maybe to move away...

At the same time, Bernadette, addressing the “vision,” repeated loudly several times: “Would you be so kind as to write your name here?”

But none of those present heard a single word and nothing appeared on a blank sheet of paper. Why? - Madame Mile asks. Maybe “she” didn’t hear?

“She heard,” Bernadette objects, “She said “it doesn’t matter” (N’ey pas necessàri).”

"She" spoke for the first time and spoke in Bernadette's dialect. She said, “Would you be so kind as to come here for fifteen days?” - that's what she said, word for word.

Bernadette is very embarrassed and flattered by such kind treatment of her. She promises the “lady” to fulfill her request...

The vision has disappeared... Madame Miele shakes Bernadette by the shoulder... No, it’s not Eliza, Bernadette says. This is a completely unknown lady.

On the way home, Madame Miele, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly expresses a new assumption: “What if it was the Mother of God?...” No one answers her...

Subsequently, the smallest details of Bernadette's descriptions were established and analyzed with the greatest accuracy. And here it should be explained that from the very beginning of this story, the girl speaking in the Lourdes dialect, speaking about the vision, always used the term “Aquero”.

In the Lourdes dialect of that era, unlike the classical French language, there was also a floating stress, depending on which the meaning of the word changed. Thus, “aquéro” with the stress on the second syllable meant “this one”, and “aquero” with the stress on the last one meant “this”.

Absolutely all official documents - police interrogations of Bernadette, her “conversations” with representatives of the priesthood or doctors called upon to certify her sanity, state that up until the moment when the “vision named itself,” the girl never used any other term other than “ Aquero" - "this".

On Thursday, February 18, upon returning from the cave, Madame Miele declares to Bernadette's parents that she is taking the girl to her place. For a while, say two weeks. Bernadette will go to the cave, accompanied by Madame Mile, who will make sure that nothing bad happens there.

Louise wants to go too. And her sister, Bernadette's aunt, also insists. Rumors ferment and rise like yeast.

On Friday, February 19, at the entrance to the cave, eight people find themselves together with Bernadette. On Saturday - twenty. On Sunday - more than a hundred.

The rumors are getting thicker. What should happen after these fifteen days? Miracle? Revelation? Cataclysm?

On Sunday, February 21, on the way out of evening mass, Commissioner Jacome grabs Bernadette by the hood: “You will come with me now!”

The crowd lamented: “Poor thing! She will be thrown into prison." Many witnesses will remember the girl’s calm, unexpected answer: “I’m not afraid. As soon as they are imprisoned, they will be released..."

At that time, there was no commissariat in Lourdes, and Bernadette would be interrogated in Jacome’s office, right at his home, in the presence of Jean-Baptiste Estrada and his sister Emmanuelita.

The dialogue is conducted in the Lourdes dialect, the only one that Bernadette spoke at that time. After the ritual “first name, last name, father’s name, mother’s maiden name, age... 13 or 14? So, how much?

- No, monsieur.

—Have you already taken First Communion?

- No, monsieur.

Jacome notes to himself: the girl is calm, she doesn’t seem at all like a downtrodden little girl or an exalted dreamer. Who taught her? Now rumors are spreading throughout the city that the Mother of God appears in the Massabielle cave. Just look, the people will fall, riots will begin. Whatever it is, all this must be stopped immediately, until those from above (not exactly “from there”, but from above - from the Prefecture) ask what is this, Jacome, going on in your little town? People are running, staring at the stones, everything is seething, everyone is scared, they don’t know what to expect... What measures have you, Jacome, taken to clarify and stop?

Commissioner Jacome makes a sympathetic and friendly face and leans towards the girl:

- Well, Bernadette, then you see the Holy Virgin?

“I didn’t say that I saw the Holy Virgin.”

Jacome leans back in his chair; Maybe he misunderstood, and the girl had nothing to do with it?

- A! So that means you didn't see anything?

- No, I saw it.

- What did you see?

- Something white.

- “Something” or “someone”?

- “This” (Aquero) looks like a little girl (“damisèle” = demoiselle).

- You say “this”... didn’t “this” tell you: “I am the Holy Virgin”?

“Aquero didn’t tell me anything.”

(And in the city this is all they talk about, Jacome thinks. An article by lawyer Bibe has already appeared in the local weekly: “... a girl, judging by all the signs, suffering from catalepsy... no less, Holy Virgin..."

- And your girlfriends who were with you, did they see something?

- No, monsieur.

- How do you know.

- They said so.

- Why didn’t they see?

- Don't know.

- Well... this... girl... is she dressed?

- She has a white dress, with a blue belt, a white veil on her head, and on each foot there is a yellow rose... the same color as the rosary...

- Does she have legs?

— Only the tips of the fingers are visible from under the dress.

- Does she have hair?

— You can see a little here (Bernadette runs her fingers over her temples).

- She's beautiful?

- Oh, yes, monsieur, very pretty, nice...

- Like who, for example, like Mademoiselle Palasson? Or like Mademoiselle Dufault?

Bernadette's face shows pity:

- No, where should they go!...

- And age?

- Young...

Jacome takes some notes in the margins of the interrogation for a while, and then takes Bernadette in turn, finding out whether Madame Mile, who went with her to the cave, forced her to come up with this whole story? Did she give money to the Soubirous family? Bernadette denies. Who else did she tell about this story? To the abbess and sisters, at the hospice school.

- And what did they say?

- They said you were dreaming.

Well done, nuns, thinks Jacome, let’s finish this way.

“Well, Bernadette, you really dreamed.”

- No, I didn’t sleep at all.

- You have misunderstood it.

- No, I rubbed my eyes well.

- It was just a reflection, a glare, from light and water...

“But I saw It several times, and it was dark. I couldn’t imagine it all the time...

- But why didn’t the others see anything?

- I don’t know this, but I’m sure that I saw...

- Listen, Bernadette, everyone laughs at you, they say that you are crazy. It is in your interests to stop this whole story and not return there again.

— I promised to go there 15 days in a row.

“You didn’t promise anything, because there was nothing!” You imagined it! All! Now you will promise me not to go there again..

Bernadette is silent, and it is clear from her eyes that she is not going to do anything like that.

Jacome changes tactics and tone. He reads out loud to her the testimony he deliberately “corrected”:

“-...The maiden smiled at me...”

“I didn’t say ‘maiden,’” Bernadette immediately corrects.

Using the same method, he “distorts” several more passages, reading them aloud to Bernadette in order to confuse her and catch her on some inaccuracy. But the girl immediately reacts to the slightest deviation from her story and in the end exclaims:

- Monsieur! You've completely confused everything!

Jacome is embarrassed, although he doesn’t show it. He is simply feverishly wondering what other way to catch the girl in fantasies or outright lies. The real interrogation protocol, with the above remarks, of course remained untouched, and he will mention all subsequent “additions” in the “case” as methods of conducting the investigation.

What should we do with it? She doesn't look like a catalepsy at all. On the contrary, the girl is unusually calm and reasonable. Jacome tries direct threats:

“That’s not what you told me the first time!”

- No, this!

- You're just a little schemer! Do you like it when everyone runs after you! You attract attention, you lead everyone along with you, like... (several more rude expressions follow)!

- I didn’t invite anyone there!

-You just like to stand out!

- No! I'm so tired of all this! (it is quite obvious that she is sincere).

In complete despair, Jacome makes one last attempt: it is her parents who force the girl to go to the cave and invent sensational stories, she must confess and tell him everything before it’s too late, before the whole family is sent to prison... Bernadette calmly and unbendingly denies to the end... She will come out of this interrogation as calm as she entered. Commissioner Jacome suffers from a nervous tremor.

“Even the plaque on his hat was shaking,” Bernadette will say about the badge on the headdress of a government official.

The next day, Monday, February 22, from the very morning Bernadette is seized with strong excitement: she is irresistibly drawn to the cave. But she does not dare to violate her parents’ categorical prohibition. All morning at the school at the hospice, the sisters do not take their eyes off her and are happy out loud that the “freaks” are finally over.

After lunch, instead of going back to school, the girl sharply turns in the opposite direction and rushes as fast as she can along the path, along the mills, to the descent leading into the cave.

She will never have to be here alone again: she is now constantly followed by a small (for now!) crowd of sympathetic, curious people, as well as several gendarmes who have received instructions to monitor her movements.

The girl doesn't pay the slightest attention to anyone. She kneels down, takes out her rosary and begins to pray. Everyone around doesn't take their eyes off her. They talk in the crowd: piously, skeptically, with irony, with outright mockery, with fearful doubt. Time passes, and it becomes clear from Bernadette's appearance that nothing is happening. She looks dejected and confused, finally gets up from her knees and lowers her head. They come up to her and ask questions. She is very unhappy:

- “I don’t know what I did wrong..”

That same evening, in confession to Abbot Pomian, she asks who she should disobey and who she should honor - her parents or the “vision” to whom she gave her word to come to the cave within 15 days?

Moved by some incomprehensible impulse, as he himself admits, the abbot will tell her: “No one should bother you”….

….The city authorities, led by Mayor Lacade and Prosecutor Dutourd, will adopt a resolution that same evening: from a legal point of view, it is impossible to prohibit anything regarding gatherings at the cave. Public opinion is clearly on the girl’s side; any repression would be a mistake. You need to observe and observe carefully. It will be visible there...

Bernadette arrives at the cave at half past six in the morning. About 150 people had already gathered around. For the first time, among the common people, the presence of “nobility” and “intelligentsia” from the Café Français is noticeable: Doctor Douzou, lawyer M. Dufault, municipal councilor J.-B. Estrade (who was present during the interrogation of Bernadette).

He came at the insistence of his sister and her friends, ironic, only slightly curious. And he was completely shocked by the appearance of Bernadette when the “vision” appeared. But “It” appeared and did not say a word.

“I saw Mademoiselle Rachel at the Bordeaux theater. She is gorgeous. But no match for Bernadette... This girl undoubtedly sees something supernatural in front of her,” Estrad will say.

His official “conversion” will make a strong impression among the local nobility.

Bernadette will have difficulty getting to “her” place, since the crowd in front of the cave numbers about 300 people (several recent apparitions were carefully monitored by the authorities and, at the direction of Commissioner Jacome, a statistical count of those present was carried out, the data of which can still be checked in the city archives ).

This time, after Bernadette’s usual prayer, something strange happens: the girl suddenly begins to crawl on her knees towards the niche, then falls face down into the ground. Next to her, her eighteen-year-old relative Lucille screams and faints.

As if waking up, Bernadette turns to her: “Don’t be afraid!”

The vision disappeared. But today “it” said and repeated:

- “Repentance! Repentance! Repentance!"

It said:

- “Pray to God for the conversion of sinners.”

- “Go, kiss the ground, as a sign of repentance, for sinners.”

It was this gesture of Bernadette that frightened her impressionable relative.

The crowd begins to gather in front of the cave from two o'clock in the morning: after all, there are not so many “good places” from which the niche can be seen.

By the time Bernadette arrives, the “official counters” note the presence of 350 people.

The girl prays as usual, then falls into “ecstasy” - a sure sign that she sees a phenomenon. A few minutes later, she hands over her candle to a girl named Eleanor Perard standing next to her, and again begins the kneeling movement interrupted the day before towards the center of the cave. She crawls somehow unusually easily through the mud and stones, from time to time bending down and kissing the ground.

Everyone around is watching with horror and curiosity what will happen next.

Bernadette stops right under the niche, where from below, directly above her head, a hole resembling a chimney leads into the niche. The girl's lips move. But as always, not a single sound reaches anyone present. Bernadette nods, turns towards the river, makes several movements on her knees in this direction, then, as if she had been called, looks back at the niche. He nods again, gets up and goes into the very depths of the cave, bends down and looks for something below. She seems confused, like a person who doesn’t quite understand what they want from him and why he doesn’t find what he’s being pointed at.

She looks for something on the ground for some time, in the very depths of the cave, right next to the wall. Then he falls to his knees again and somehow reluctantly, with hostility, begins to clear away the wet dirt with his hands, looks embarrassed into the resulting depression, scoops up some brownish-dirty water, brings it to his face and throws it away in horror. But then he scoops it up again. Only on the fourth attempt does she manage to overcome her own disgust and she seems to drink it... Then she picks a bunch of grass growing right there and eats...

Confusion runs through the crowd, quickly turning into mild panic.

As Bernadette stands up and turns to the crowd, her face smeared with dirt, several cries are heard in unison: “She’s gone crazy!”

Those who are not disappointed are simply frightened, but the general confusion and “religious fervor” are temporarily weakened.

Bernadette will say:

- “Aquero said to me: “Go, drink from the spring and wash yourself in it.” I didn’t see any other water and went to the river, but it showed me a place under the rock with a sign. There I found some water, like liquid mud, but so little that it could barely fit into my palm... Three times I couldn’t swallow it, it was so dirty... But the fourth time I drank it..”

- But why did she force you to do this?!

She didn't say why.

- Why did you eat grass?

Bernadette doesn't know what to answer.

- Now everyone thinks you're crazy!

She tries to remember something and only repeats:

- For sinners...

In the afternoon of the same day, a small group of curious people returns to the cave and carefully examines the entire ground at the foot of the cliff, where Bernadette made a small depression... That place is especially damp, the depression is filled with dirty water. Eleanor Perard pokes it with a stick and picks at the liquid mud, throwing away the largest pieces.

The water begins to flow faster and very soon becomes increasingly clear... Several people try to drink...

Mud becoming clean water... A message about the repentance of sinners...

...Already in the evening of the same day, two full bottles from the newly found source end up in the city. A woman named Jeanne Monta will take one of them to the bedside of her sick father. The other one will be carried away by a little boy, the son of a local merchant. This boy usually wore a bandage over his badly injured eye. Jacqueline Pen, the vicar's sister, who saw him filling the bottle, will notice the next day that the boy no longer has a bandage.

That same evening, February 25, the police come to the Soubirous family’s closet: Bernadette is summoned by Mr. Imperial Prosecutor.

At six o’clock in the evening, accompanied by her mother, she appears before Mr. Prosecutor Dutour, who first questions her in detail, trying to surpass the methods of Commissioner Jacome and “catch” some inaccuracy in the presentation. Having failed to get anything from the girl, he turns to direct threats and, in the presence of his mother, promises Bernadette that she will really be sent to prison if she continues “these gatherings in the cave.” Louise is crying. Bernadette remains calm. The prosecutor's hands are shaking. He doesn't hit the inkwell with his pen. This interrogation added nothing to the previous ones.

The next day, February 26, a crowd is waiting in front of Bernadette's house. The parents are in complete confusion: what to do, disobey the formidable order of Prosecutor Dutour, not to approach the Massabielle cave? Louise’s older sister, Bernadette’s aunt, Bernarda, who was right there, suddenly declared: “If I were her, I would go!” - and that settles the matter.

But on this day there will be no apparition. Bernadette will repeat her entire ritual of prayer, which has already become traditional, and even yesterday’s gestures “for sinners.” But Aquero will not appear.

The girl is inconsolable: “What did I do to her?...”

And Bernadette daily performs the ritual of “atonement for herself and for other sinners,” which so frightened everyone at first, she explains.

The crowd of those present is constantly growing. On Sunday, February 28, there were 1,150 people at the cave. On this day, Commandant Renault, head of the gendarmerie squadron of the city of Tarbes, is also present: it becomes necessary to think and take precautions, due to such a concentration of people on the slippery banks in front of the cave.

That same Sunday, after mass, Bernadette is interrogated again. This time it’s investigator Clément Rieb, who, like all previous exhorters, encounters the girl’s calm conviction: “I promised to come there before Thursday.” No one can stop her from doing this, in any legal way.

On Monday, March 1, 1,500 people gather at the cave. Candles are burning. People pray on their knees. A priest is noticeable among them: this is the Abbot Desira, he will leave one of the most powerful descriptions of Bernadette, during ecstasy. This is not a local priest, he did not know that Abbot Peyramal categorically forbade all clergy to be present at the “prayers at the cave” and generally to come close to this place.

The situation in which the church ministers find themselves is indeed very delicate: at the slightest mistake, they will immediately be accused of trying to inflate false sensations on the superstitions of the population. Very accusatory notes have already appeared in many local newspapers. Abbot Peyramal is cautious with good reason. Until the situation is completely cleared up, it is better for the clergy to stay away from all this commotion.

On that same Monday, March 1, the first of seven healings will take place, which the bishop will have to recognize as “the creation of God”, after the endless investigations of the episcopal commission and the “medical magnitude”, Professor Verges.

Late at night, Catherine Latapi, nicknamed “Chua,” who lives seven kilometers from Lourdes, suddenly decides to go to the cave, accompanied by her two youngest children. Catherine is pregnant and is about to give birth. She will not be able to explain what exactly made her go to the cave that night.

In 1856, she severely injured her right arm: she fell from a tree where she was collecting acorns to feed pigs - a broken arm and a dislocated forearm. The dislocation was corrected, but two fingers on the hand remained bent and paralyzed. She has long been unable to use her right hand, and this is a real misfortune for the family.

She comes to the cave and is present at Bernadette's ecstasy.

Then, having made her way through the crowd, dragging her little ones with her, she gets to the source, and in front of everyone, she puts her crippled hand there. An expression of bliss appears on her face. She raises her hand to her eyes and freely moves her fully “animated” fingers. Frightened and joyful screams are heard around her, people lean over her, they grab her by the shoulder...

Severe pain in the lower abdomen makes her cry out: “Most Holy Theotokos, you who healed me, let me return home!”

She grabs the hands of her children and quickly heads back: 7 kilometers to the town of Lubajak. Immediately upon her return, she will give birth to a healthy boy, very quickly and almost painlessly. The midwife will come running when the child is already at the mother’s breast. The boy will be named Jean-Baptiste. He will become a priest.

There are 1,650 people in front of the cave. Immediately after the “appearance”, Bernadette goes to the church parish. A whole crowd of escorts now constantly follows on her heels.

She is greeted more than coolly.

- Are you the one going to the cave?

- Yes, Monsieur curé.

- And you say that you see the Holy Virgin?

“I didn’t say it was the Holy Virgin.”

-Who is this?

- I don't know.

- Oh, you don’t know! And yet, everyone who runs there after you says that you see the Holy Virgin! What do you see?

- Something like a lady.

- Ah, “something”!.. (“Quaouqu’arré”!)

The last word in the Lourdes dialect is pronounced with open mockery.

Bernadette is trying to convey the “message” entrusted to her: “Go and tell the priests to have processions come here and build a chapel here.”

The abbot can no longer contain his irritation:

- Oh, that's how it is! The lady said! Processions!...Get out of here!

The last words sound like “Vade retro!”

He will calm down only in the evening, when, in the presence of many other priests, including the vicars Pena, Serres and the confessor Bernadette Pomiana, Bernadetuu will again be asked to retell the “message”.

“And you still don’t know who she is or what her name is?”

- No, Monsieur curé.

- Well, you need to ask her!

Abbot Pomian decides to “explore” another possibility:

-Have you ever heard of fairies?

- No, Monsieur Abbot.

- What about witches?

- No, Monsieur Abbot.

A woman present at this meeting named Dominiquette, who manages a stagecoach and often “works” as a translator from the “Lourdes” dialect into ordinary French, intervenes in the conversation:

- Monsieur Abbot, she doesn’t understand you! There are no words for "fairies" in Lourdes, and "witch" means nothing in Lourdes. You should let her go, Monsieur Abbot. She doesn't understand half of what you're talking about here...

Bernadette comes out, satisfied: “I’m glad, I handed over everything as She asked!”

There are 3,000 people near the cave.

People literally hang in clusters on the slightest ledges in the neighboring rocks, on an almost vertical shore, praying for hours.

Many people barely see Bernadette. Rumors fly through the crowd: “Had it happened today? Did not have? Was?".

But in the morning, like on February 22 and 26, there was no phenomenon. Bernadette leaves, upset. She will return again in the afternoon, and Aquero will appear.

In the evening, in the church parish, Bernadette will repeat:

- Monsieur curé, the lady wants a chapel.

— Did you ask what her name is?

- Yes, but she just smiled.

- She's laughing at you!

Mister curé has an idea: in Mexico, in the 16th century, the Virgin made the mountain bloom in the middle of winter...

“Well, tell her, if she wants a chapel, let her say her name and make a wild rose bloom near the cave.” Then we will build her a chapel. And not just the “chapel”... - the abbot adds thoughtfully.

Thursday, March 4, 1858 - “The Great Day”, as it is already called everywhere in the surrounding area. The last day of the 15 “promised”...

At 11 o’clock in the evening, the police commissioner personally arrives at the cave and inspects every pothole in the surrounding area, in order to avoid any “trick” on the part of lovers of “miracles”...

He is surprised by the number of people present at the site, praying.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, everything in the immediate vicinity of the cave and niche is carefully searched again. It becomes increasingly difficult to do this, since you have to force your way through the crowd.

At 6 am, a platoon of gendarmes lines up in front of the city hall, together with soldiers from the neighboring fort. Soldiers also line up along the entire road leading to the cave.

Official "counters" give figures ranging from 8,000 to 20,000 present.

The crowd is surprisingly calm. The majority are praying. People in the front rows crowd close to the water.

At 7:55 a murmur goes through the crowd: here she is! Bernadette is walking, accompanied by her thirty-year-old cousin, Jeanne Vedaire, a teacher.

The crowd parts to let the girl go to “her place.”

In the crowd, Commissioner Jacome and the mayor's assistant stand with notepads and write down the exact time, the smallest events, the slightest movements and the words of the “clairvoyant”: “34 smiles, 24 nods towards the cave...”.

Everyone in the crowd keeps their eyes on Bernadette and crosses themselves when she crosses herself.

About half an hour later, after the onset of ecstasy, Bernadette rises from her knees and approaches the niche in which the “vision” is always located. Her lips move, but even the people closest to her do not hear a sound.

(“For two minutes she looks joyful (“18 smiles”), then her face becomes sad (“for 3 minutes”), then lights up with joy again...”)

She bows, returns to her original place and begins to pray again (“15 minutes”).

The phenomenon lasted from 7.15 to 8 am.

Then, without saying a word, she extinguishes her candle, gets up and quickly heads towards the city, not paying the slightest attention to the crowd parting around her.

The crowd seems calm, but discouraged: no miracle, no revelation. The city authorities are happy: no unrest, no accidents, this is the main thing. The general mood is disappointment.

People are now crowding around the Soubirous family’s home day and night. Bernadette is in despair: people want to see her, touch her clothes, ask to touch her rosary, thrust babies at her for “blessings.”

- What do you want from me? I'm not a priest!

With great difficulty, the adult men manage to push the crowd away from the doors and allow Bernadette to pass: she goes to Monsieur Curé.

- What did the lady say?

— I asked her name. She smiled. I asked for the wild rose to bloom, as you said. She smiled again. But she still wants the chapel.

- Do you have money to build this chapel?

- No, Monsieur curé.

- I don’t have one either. So ask the lady to give it for construction...

He is disappointed and upset. Bernadette too. On the last day, nothing became clear...

She is now completely unable to move freely around the city: crowds follow her, they grab her clothes, try to kiss the hem of her dress, her hand, they try to hug her and pull away with hysterical cries of “Healed!”, they shove money at her. During the last attempts, she reacts especially vividly: she immediately throws away the coin that they are trying to put in her palm: “My hand is burning!” she exclaims.

In addition to sincere attempts to “thank” her in this way, incidents with “coins” are also arranged by the police authorities in order to check whether this whole “swindle” was started by the Soubirous family in order to improve their financial situation.

This hypothesis, however, will very soon have to be discarded, since not a single member of the Soubirous family, already quite frightened by the “new misfortune” that has befallen them, will accept a single “public alms.” Bernadette’s little brother, who once accompanied her and accepted such a “gift” in the palm of his hand, will publicly receive a resounding slap in the face with the demand to immediately return it and not dare again.

Bernadette will also have to vigorously deny any participation in the “miraculous healings” of some ecstatic residents who rushed to her with hugs and subsequently declared their “insights” and the disappearance of joint pain...

The authorities are currently concerned about a completely different problem, which is becoming more and more serious, which cannot be ignored: crowds of pilgrims near the cave are growing daily, the place is not empty around the clock, candles are burning everywhere, figurines of the Holy Virgin, crucifixes, have already been brought and placed, flowers. Money, small and large, simply covers the entire space in front of the niche. The last one is brought, and not a single coin is lost.

A small fence was built near the source; people wash themselves and drink this water! But the pharmacist Palasson officially declared that the water was not suitable for drinking, and epidemics could occur!

All the local newspapers shouted in unison their disgrace at the “exalted hysterical woman”, covered up by the local clergy, playing on the superstitions of the common people and some bored representatives of the propertied class.

Bernadette is now not given a pass, both by “admirers” and scoffers.

The life of the Soubirous family has lost its last joys of quiet, albeit poor, comfort...

On March 25, the day of the Annunciation, Bernadette will unexpectedly wake up in the middle of the night, long before dawn. A now familiar state “comes over” her, when something irresistibly draws her into the cave. She becomes spellbound and cannot resist.

Her parents, who have already seen her like this, know that it is useless to dissuade her and only ask her to wait until dawn.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, Bernadette is already in front of the cave.

This time she decided to get an answer to the priest's question at all costs. She prepared and carefully memorized a long phrase in her dialect. When, after the usual prayers, Aquero appears in a niche and descends through an internal hole in the rock almost to the level of Bernadette, the girl says with zeal:

- Mademoiselle, would you be so kind as to tell me who you are, please?

Aquero smiles and doesn't answer. Bernadette repeats her question, with the same result. But this time Bernadette will not back down, because this is the only condition set by Mister curé for the construction of the chapel.

She will repeat the question twice more. And for the fourth time Aquero stops smiling.

She opens her arms folded at her chest, in a gesture inviting a hug, and brings them back again at chest level. Raises his eyes to the sky and says:

— Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou.(=Je suis Immaculée Conception). I am the Immaculate Conception...

Bernadette runs into the city, not answering any questions, pushing away the curious, repeating out loud the words spoken by the “vision”, constantly stumbling over the last two, completely unfamiliar to her.

She rushes to the curé as he comes out and shouts:

— Que soy era Immaculada Councep-ciou! That's her name! She said! She said!

Abbot Peyramal is in shock, trying to come to his senses:

- A lady cannot have such a name!.. You are mistaken. Do you know what this means?

Bernadette shakes her head.

- Well, how can you say such things if you don’t understand?

- I repeated all the way...

Abbot Peyramal does not know how to react, he turns very pale, frightening Bernadette.

“She still wants the chapel,” the girl says quietly.

Mister curé is greatly shocked and can only find the strength to say:

- Go home. We'll talk later.

Bernadette is discouraged. Was Monsieur curé angry? What do these words mean? She's never heard them, but they sound so beautiful!

She could hear the French version of “Immaculée Conception” in sermons, at masses in local churches, but she did not understand French, and no one preached in the Lourdes dialect... The phrase was pronounced by the “Lady” in the Lourdes dialect, which was spoken by the local, “simple” population, she really couldn't hear anywhere.

The meaning of these words will be explained to her that same evening, and she will feel inexpressibly happy.

And that same evening, Abbot Peyramal will write to the bishop.

17th phenomenon

Bernadette will again feel the uncontrollable “call” the day before. And, despite the categorical prohibition of the prosecutor, of course, he will go.

But now she can’t even leave the house unnoticed. By the time she gets to the cave, there will be hundreds of people there.

During “ecstasy,” there is movement in the crowd and an authoritative voice is heard:

- Let me pass.

This is Doctor Duzu. He so confidently makes his way through the already thousand-strong crowd that no one dares to contradict him. He manages to get through to Bernadette herself. He didn’t even take off his hat, which, according to an unwritten but respected law, everyone present here does.

He had long wanted to personally observe religious ecstasy. He explains that he came here “as a representative of science” to witness a “religious phenomenon.” He, the only one of all those present, can do this.

With the greatest attention, he examines Bernadette in close proximity, notes the color of her face, tries to catch her breathing, see if her pupils are dilated...

There is some confusion in the crowd, a frightened exclamation is heard: “She will burn her palms!”

Indeed, covering the burning candle in front of her with her palms from the wind, Bernadette does not notice that the fire is licking her fingers. Several people rush towards her to pull her hands away, but Doctor Duzu stops them:

- Leave it! — he commands imperiously, looking with horror at the flame escaping through the girl’s fingers. Bernadette, keeping her eyes fixed on the niche, does not react at all.

When the “vision” ends, he will carefully examine the girl’s hands and will not find the slightest trace of burns. Shocked, that same evening he will outline his observations in detail at the Café Français, where Commissioner Jacome will take notes on them.

After this date, events in Lourdes and the surrounding area will finally take a tense turn, and Bernadette herself will withdraw from the public eye for some time.

The fact is that for some time now she has been threatened by something even worse than prison. Mr. Prefect wants to end “this cave” at all costs. The excitement around the source, the ever-increasing pilgrimage that is quickly getting out of the control of the authorities, all this religious nonsense and stupid tales have already reached Paris. All this needs to stop now, immediately.

He intends to send the “clairvoyant” to a mental asylum. He declared this openly, on May 4, in Lourdes.

On the same day, on the instructions of Commissioner Jacome, the cave, as an “illegal place of worship,” will be “cleansed” of all “things of religious content”: bouquets, figurines of the Holy Virgin, crucifixes, candles, money scattered everywhere in front will be removed and taken to the mayor’s office. niche. The barrier built in front of the source will be demolished, and fences will be erected on the approaches to the shore, along with gendarmes constantly on duty there.

On May 8, Bernadette's relatives and friends will arrange a “trip to healing waters” for her in the town of Cauterets. It seems reasonable to all “sympathizers” to wait out the nervousness of the authorities, away from Lourdes.

But Bernadette’s departure from the scene will only confirm that she is not the real “source” of the commotion in Lourdes.

Despite the statement of the local pharmacist Palaisson that the water from the cave is unsuitable for drinking, pilgrims crowd around the barriers day and night, and, not paying attention to the authorities, go to the source, pray, and carry out water in ever-increasing quantities.

Later, a whole series of studies of water from the source in the Lourdes cave will follow. At first, this will be done by local pharmacists, then by eminent chemists, like M. Philol, a professor at the University of Toulouse.

Carefully carried out analyzes will not find in the water from the source of the Massabielle cave any special mineralization capable of exerting any sensitive effect on anything in the human body, and in any way explaining the healing effects of this water. The conclusion of all the research done will be only the fact that this water is suitable for drinking.

The pilgrimage to the source continues around the clock. Attempts to threaten high fines for “violating government regulations” do not yield the slightest results. In addition, quite a few very high-ranking persons were already seen among the pilgrims...

The crowds at the cave continue with some excesses: on April 11, five overly exalted women will bring a small ladder to the cave and climb into a niche, in the depths of which they will discover a new depression leading to another small cave.

Returning from this expedition, they will run straight to Abbot Peyramal and tell him that they saw the “Virgin”.

On April 16, a new “expedition” organized by Commissioner Jacome will crawl along a narrow cave corridor from a niche deep into the mountain and discover in a distant recess a white stalactite resembling a statue, but without a head...

A vain attempt to explain the phenomena in the niche by the presence of a stalactite in the depths of the mountain, where the girl never climbed, will again not give the slightest result. The pilgrimage continues to grow. Candles burn around the clock, people pray, sing, collect water, and stay in front of the cave for hours.

On June 15, the cave is once again officially “forbidden.” Fencing barriers are installed in front of it. On June 17, these barriers are broken; 18 - restored again, 27 broken again and restored again 28; broken on July 4th, restored on 10...

“Fines” and protocols rain down on pilgrims...

Only then, finally, does the church enter into the debate. July 8, The curé of Lourdes informs the Bishop of Tarbes about the events. On July 11, Monsignor Laurence, who had until then taken a wait-and-see attitude, officially protested. Against failure to comply with the ban imposed by the authorities. After this, the passions around the cave will subside somewhat. The overwhelming majority of pilgrims are quiet, law-abiding people...

On this day, Bernadette will again feel the “call”, but as a precaution, she will wait until the evening and hide under the hooded cape lent to her in order to pass unnoticed. Accompanied by her aunt Lucille and two other women, she will not go the usual way, but will remain on the right bank, among the worshipers, in front of the barriers, right next to the cave.

She kneels down, lights a candle, takes out her rosary, and begins to pray. The ecstasy comes almost immediately and will last for quite a long time, but no one will think about measuring anything this time.

Like the very first apparitions, everything takes place in complete silence.

Bernadette cannot explain why, but she knows that this phenomenon was the last. In her earthly and short life she would never see the Holy Virgin again. These eighteen moments should be enough until the very end...

Notre-Dame de Lourdes, today

Well, and then, as always happens, events and people mix again and again, but in an already known direction. An epidemic of rumors is taking over ever larger territories, controversy is devouring strength and minds, the authorities are getting irritated, the clergy is being cautious, everyone is demanding clarification, incrimination, proof and stopping, no matter how, but one way or another.

Meetings are organized and experts are appointed. Witnesses are questioned and the “healed” are examined. Real and imaginary. Famous and respected people come, try to figure it out, write books and articles. They refute and complement each other. Scientists, doctors, writers, imperial persons.

In a hurry, pushing each other with their elbows and braking with steps, resolutions and decrees are issued.

It all ends with the most official recognition. Dad agrees. The authorities find a convenient option for everyone. Everyone is full, everyone is safe.

And the pilgrims go, go, go...

Or maybe this is just the beginning. And not a modest chapel was erected, but a temple of the greatest beauty. And they will clear the banks, and make smooth and wide roads from slippery paths leading to the Source. And the Source itself is channeled into many convenient, stainless pipes, with properly functioning taps, for everyone who wants to drink and wash.

A white statue made by a famous sculptor will be placed in the niche, based on careful measurements and the smallest details from Bernadette’s stories. When Bernadette sees her, she will be upset and say that it doesn’t look like it. But, of course, they won’t change anything, and then, out of her natural delicacy, the girl will remain silent.

Life at the source is also in full swing. Everyone is busy with their own business. Some pray, others think, others study, others record, others are curious and visit. There are still a lot of people, sixth, seventh and ninth, who just crowd around without knowing why.

And why, until now, inexplicable healings do not always happen and not to those who, according to all available concepts, deserve them, or sometimes even not to those who ask for them?

But that's a completely different story. And Bernadette is no longer in it. Although her image, of course, cannot be separated from Lourdes symbolism, her embalmed body now rests in a glass coffin, in the chapel of the Nevers Monastery, where she died quietly but painfully, very young.

All this, of course, happened much later, when she was finally able, having gone through the “classical catechism,” to take her First Communion, learn the French language, read and write, and be accepted into obedience, far, far from her birthplace.

At first she will be very bored, write a lot and pray earnestly. And he will gradually retreat into his new world, separated from the mundane world by invisible and uncrossable borders.

She will never return to Lourdes again. When asked to visit “her cave” again, she will always respond with a gentle refusal: why? After all, She will never be there again. How can you be sure of this? I know.

She will not forget her worldly attachments, she will simply gently move away from them. With ever greater frenzy, clutching at his love for Christ, like a straw that nothing on this earth can crumble. She, like Saint Teresa, will desire to “live by love, contempt and suffering.” She will describe this in her personal notes, which will be published, with copious comments.

Bernadette Soubirous, photography

She will obediently answer endless questions, but not with tired doom, but as simply and calmly, as if they asked her for directions, time, weather.

In general, the calm and balanced character of this girl will fill entire volumes with the most careful observations, analyzes and conclusions about her inexplicable, “chosen” simplicity and unbending submission to the Will of God.

Until the very end, they will ask her what Virgo told her, then: “I cannot promise you happiness in this world, but I promise you in another.” Because, according to Bernadette herself, the Virgin “told her something that concerned her personally and forbade her to convey these words to “anyone.”

Both numerous questions from curious people and official interrogations of high-ranking officials will not be able to obtain any information about this from her.

Would you tell this to the Pope himself?

The Holy Virgin forbade me to say this to “anyone.” Dad is “someone”.

But the Pope has the authority of Christ!

The Pope is powerful on earth, the Holy Virgin is in heaven.

When they ask her why the Holy Virgin did not heal her herself, from asthma that is exhausting and taking away more and more of her health, she will only calmly smile in response, like an adult to the question of a naive child, as the Virgin once smiled at herself, at her inept attempts to find out the name of the one who appears... She will gently shake her head: not this, not that...

In general, this whole story about a girl who, once she began to tell the truth, repeated it to the end, with all the corresponding consequences, will, like the eternal wandering, irritate and disturb rational souls and bright minds, which, as a rule, are hampered by the inexplicable.

And for a long time they will write and paint with their fingers on the glass about the imaginary “stupidity since childhood,” which will not be confirmed by any source, even the most negatively inclined towards it. About “hallucinations” supposedly caused by asthmatic attacks that cloud consciousness. About “mass psychosis”, for some reason healing only a few...

She will leave many letters and personal notes, which, together with the “protocols” of her early interrogations and numerous written eyewitness accounts, allow those with souls to hear...

But this is a completely different story. This is a story about an extraordinary girl, not because of what she had to endure, which forever deprived her of the opportunity to somehow continue her existence in the worldly world and threw her into the reclusive, spiritual world. Which she wasn't ready for. But to whom she immediately submitted, with the same good will and sincere desire to do as the Almighty pleases, with which she once immediately promised to come to the cave every day.

She sincerely believed that she had become the “chosen one” because she was the “darkest and grayest” of all those who found themselves at the cave, and that if there had been someone “darker” than her, she herself would have seen no more than the darkness inside the niche and dampness around.

Saint Bernadette

This is a story about an extraordinary girl in that she was actually the most “ordinary” girl: kind, calm and cheerful, and even, among her friends, a laugher and a great lover of yard games and round dances. What plunged the sisters in the Nevers monastery into indignation, who were forced to call on her with excessive severity - “especially her!” - to greater humility and less joy in “this” world.

She always humbled herself very submissively. Although all her personal notes, every detail in her behavior and every recorded phrase in the protocol are a revelation of remarkable strength, simplicity and liveliness of mind and character.

She, it turns out, had something that no one would have thought to look for in a girl like her, and could not have imagined, not knowing the usefulness of such a “gift” - she, as evidenced by so many genuine sources of pure already water, there was, imagine, a remarkable sense of humor. Which completely removes from her the aggressive suspicion of “stupidity” and lack of intelligence. Very little is written about this, almost not written at all. But this becomes obvious when reading not tragic-romanced, but dry documentary sources. And isn’t this what helps humility?...

(But no, she wasn’t “joking”!)

The life of Bernadette Soubirous after the apparitions is a completely, completely different story, and should be written about separately. But it’s better not to write, but to read everything she said herself and try to imagine.

Because, she herself said: “Everything that is written in the simplest way will be the best... Trying to decorate things, we deprive them of their essence...” (= “Ce qu'on écrira de plus simple sera le meilleur..A force de fleurir les choses, on les dénatures."

“Allez boire à la fontaine et vous y laver” -
“Go to the spring, drink and wash yourself...”

For Catholics, Saint Bernadette is the most alive of all living things. Photo from www.wikipedia.org

As a child, the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette; after her death, the remains of the woman who became a nun were exhumed three times, and each time it was recorded that the body was absolutely not subject to decay. She is now venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and can be seen in the transparent reliquary in the Chapel of Saint Bernadette in the city of Nevers in eastern France. Unlike the incorruptible relics of other Christian ascetics, Sibiru’s body was best preserved. It seems that she is simply sleeping like a fairy-tale princess. What is the secret of an indestructible body and what are the explanations for this phenomenon?

Maria Bernarda Sibiru, or Bernadette, was born in 1844 into a poor family in the French city of Lourdes. His father was a miller, his mother a laundress. The childhood of the future saint was extremely difficult. The financial affairs of the parents worsened every year. Over time, the father turned from a mill owner into an ordinary apprentice. The family was forced to live on the first floor of the former prison. The head of the family began having difficulty finding a job. In such a situation, the girl did not have the opportunity to receive an education. It is worth noting that the girl had problems passing catechesis. The landlady and the local priest considered her too ignorant and unable to understand the basics of the Christian faith. “She doesn’t even know that the mystery of the Trinity exists!” - exclaimed the priest.

On February 11, 1858, Bernadette went with her sister and friend to collect firewood and bones, which then had to be taken to a junk dealer. Suddenly she noticed a light in a nearby grotto. The rosehip bush located at the entrance to the cave swayed as if from the wind. In the grotto, the girl saw a lady in white. Bernadette told her sister and friend about this when they approached her, but it turned out that they did not see the mysterious stranger.

Soon the parents learned about their daughter’s vision, seeing it as a figment of their imagination. Moreover, the news was received with hostility. The father and mother already had a lot of problems and troubles; they did not want to observe the eccentricities of the child. According to some sources, Bernadette's parents beat her when they first learned of her vision. Despite this, the girl continued to walk to the grotto and observe the woman in white.

Soon the news of her visions began to spread, first throughout the city, then throughout France. Residents expressed a variety of opinions about this. Some considered the visions to be a manifestation of “evil spirits”, others – the ghost of a recently deceased girl, and others – the appearance of the Virgin Mary. Many, of course, were sure that Sibiru was making up everything to attract attention to himself, or was suffering from a mental disorder.

However, the idea that the mysterious lady could be the Virgin Mary began to gain popularity, and Bernadette gained supporters, whose number gradually increased. Even the parents eventually changed their position and believed in their daughter’s visions. At the same time, the people who came with Sibiru to the cave never saw anyone there, nevertheless, the supporters trusted the words and statements of the child. According to the girl's statements, the lady in white smiled at her and gave instructions. One day, “at the behest” of the mysterious Lady Bernadette, she dug a ditch in one of the corners of the grotto and drank dirty water from there. Then, in this place, a spring with clean water allegedly appeared, which has since been considered healing. Another time, Sibiru, on behalf of a mysterious lady, ate grass for the repentance of sinners.

At the beginning of March, the lady said to the girl: “Go to the priests and tell them to come here in procession and build a chapel here.” The task turned out to be difficult to complete; representatives of the city clergy had a negative attitude towards Bernadette’s testimony. In addition, Police Commissioner Jacome and Royal Prosecutor Vital Duthure actively opposed Sibiru. They tried to do everything possible so that the girl would stop going with a group of followers to the grotto and claiming that she saw a certain woman there. They interrogated the young spirit seer, threatened her with prison, and tried to declare her crazy. But nothing made her give up visiting the cave.

On June 16, a stranger in white appeared to Bernadette 18 times. But the girl, talking about the visions, did not claim that she saw the Virgin Mary. When asked who she was watching, the child said: “Something like a lady.” Sibiru described the clothes of the contemplated woman as follows: “She has a white dress, with a blue belt, a white veil on her head, and on each foot there is a yellow rose...” The conviction that the little visionary sees the Virgin Mary was expressed only by her ardent followers. The girl denied it.

Due to numerous requests, the “spirit seer” tried to ask the lady in white what her name was, but received no answer. Only once did the object of the vision identify himself: “I am the Immaculate Conception!” Sibiru informed people and the clergy about this, but added that she did not know the meaning of the stranger’s name. The priests knew the meaning of these words, which greatly puzzled them. In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, according to which Mary, from the moment she was conceived by St. Anne, did not bear original sin due to special grace. It was assumed that the illiterate girl could not have known about the papal bull dedicated to the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. While the priests pondered this riddle, skeptics offered their own explanation. Bernadette could have accidentally heard about the Immaculate Conception at Mass or on the street. The girl did not remember this episode because she did not understand the meaning of the concept that she involuntarily heard. However, the expression itself later resurfaced in my memory.

After 1858, Bernadette never saw the lady in white again. The Catholic Church gradually ceased to treat the events of Lourdes with hostility and skepticism or completely ignore them. Lourdes became a place of mass pilgrimage, people wanted to take water from the spring in the hope of healing (over time, a complex of religious buildings, now known as the Sanctuary, began to be built around the famous grotto). In 1863, the “spirit seer” was received by Bishop Theodore-Augustin Forcade. In 1868, Sibiru took monastic vows at the monastery of the Sisters of Charity in Nevers. In 1879 she died of tuberculosis at the age of 35.

In the first half of the 20th century, Bernadette's body was exhumed three times as the question of her canonization was considered. The first time the remains were dug up in 1909, believers were told that there were no signs of decomposition, the skin and nails were absolutely intact. It seemed that the deceased had been dead for a few hours, and not 30 years, Catholics were told. In 1919, a second exhumation was carried out; the body allegedly still showed no signs of destruction. In 1925, the body was recovered for the third time, and again no signs of decay were found. However, according to other evidence, the face of the deceased began to collapse. After this, the remains are transferred to the reliquary. In the same year, Bernadette's beatification took place and she was canonized. On December 8, 1933, the “spirit seer” of Lourdes was canonized.

Besides Sibiru, there have been cases in the history of Catholicism in which human bodies have incredibly escaped the effects of time. The relics of the saints are incorrupt: Don Oreone, Chabral Makhlouf, Katharina Labour, Beata Margherita, Teresa Margherita. However, Bernadette stands out in that the incorruptible relics of the other saints do not have such an ideal appearance. Even though the remains were not destroyed, they look like dead bodies. Sibiru looks like a sleeping beauty in monastic clothes. It looks like she's about to open her eyes.

Skeptics and scientists have never agreed that Bernadette's incorruptibility can only be explained in terms of a miracle. They were looking for a way to unravel the secret of the “sleeping” nun. It was initially assumed that before exhumation the remains had escaped decomposition due to favorable burial conditions. If this theory were correct, then the objects that were in the deceased’s possession should not have been damaged either. However, the rosary became rusty and the cross darkened. Then skeptics put forward a new hypothesis - the body was embalmed before burial, the procedure was carried out secretly.

Skeptics put forward another version. Let's say that the body, for reasons still unknown to science, avoided decomposition in the grave, but after the third exhumation a wax covering of the body was used. An imprint was taken from Sibiru's face and a very thin wax mask was created from it. The mask was then carefully placed on the deceased's face. There are differences of opinion regarding the hands of the saint. Some believe that the hands are also covered with wax, others are in no hurry to draw conclusions, saying that the mystery of the incorruptibility of the upper limbs will be resolved in the future. The wax mask version is by far the most common.

There is a fourth hypothesis. It is suspected that the reliquary contains a wax doll, and not the body of a woman. In transparent cancer, the “spiritual woman” looks better than during life. Could it be that in the grave the remains not only completely escaped decay, but were also able to transform? According to this version, the real relics of the saint were never publicly displayed. Perhaps during exhumation the body did not look perfect, or after three extractions it began to fade. Therefore, I had to make a very high-quality wax doll and pass it off as relics that had escaped decomposition. Adherents of this theory cannot confirm it, because they do not have the opportunity to remove the relics from the transparent sarcophagus.

The sleeping beauty in monastic robes continues to defy the laws of nature with her appearance. At least for those who are ready to wholeheartedly trust the keepers of the relics.

Bernadette is her affectionate, diminutive nickname. From February 11 to July 16, 1858, in a cave near Lourdes, she saw eighteen times a young and beautiful woman (Bernadette said “as tall as me”), who said one thing about herself: “I am the Immaculate Conception,” and said in the local dialect - “ Patois" (“Qey soy era Immaculado Conceptiou”). In France, a hostile attitude towards the Church then prevailed - at least among the authorities - and Bernadette was repeatedly interrogated, trying to expose her as a deceiver and a hysterical woman. She was even informed that God and the Mother of God could not speak Patois, to which she replied: “If they did not know him, how would we know him? And if they did not understand him, how would we understand him?” Certain moments of the visions remained mysterious - for example, the Virgin told Bernadette to eat the grass that grew at the site of the vision, and she ate. They mocked her, and she replied that not only animals eat grass, but also people - lettuce!

Some of the visions took place in front of a large crowd of people, but no one except Bernadette declared that they saw or heard anything. The Mother of God spoke about simple things: about repentance, about prayer to Her Son. At the site of the visions a source began to flow. Then the visions stopped, and Bernadette never experienced anything like that again in her entire life. In 1866 she was accepted into the monastery in Nevers, where she, in her own words, “worked.” When asked what this work was, she answered: “I’m sick.” She had asthma, from which she soon died. Doctors of that time believed that snuffing tobacco helps with this disease, so one of the relics preserved in Lourdes is Bernadette’s snuff box, even if this somewhat reduces the image of the gentle girl.

When the Prussian army entered France in 1870, she wrote to her father:

“They say the enemy is approaching Nevers. I would gladly do without seeing the Prussians, but God is everywhere, even among the Prussians. I remember how, when I was still very little, after the sermon of Monsieur curé, I heard people say: “Oh , he is doing his job." I think the Prussians are also doing their job."

This is a rare example of a very complex joke: Bernadette laughs at those who did not believe in the sincerity of the priest, showing the absurdity of their ridicule by transferring it to those whom these mockers considered the most sincere villains, and makes it clear that she considers the Prussians to be ordinary people, who, moreover, God chose to call to repentance precisely those who mock God and His servants.

Lourdes became the greatest of pilgrimage centers, an epidemic of false visions broke out (much more magnificent than Bernadette's, and those who experienced them were by no means going to go into the shadows). But all this happened without any of her participation. Skeptics believed that the clergy “hid” her so that she would not interfere with lying about the vision and “doing business” on miracles. However, the most malicious skeptics are unable to point out any distortions in what Bernadette herself said in 1858 and what was recorded by both believers and non-believers observers. Talk about the “trade in miracles” was only a partial manifestation of rejection of the Church as an organization. It’s just that Bernadette tried to avoid curious people, and from the example of 20th-century cosmonauts it is well known how, without such precautions, a person who has become famous for something can destroy his soul. Another thing is that the “feat of astronauts” worried people only for a few years, and now Lourdes is again much more interesting than the Moon. And, of course, Bernadette wanted to visit Lourdes, she was a living soul, and she said: “If only I could see what it’s like there, just so that they wouldn’t see me.” She was canonized in 1933 not for her visions, but for the humble simplicity and deep faith demonstrated throughout her life.

There are places on earth that, upon visiting, a traveler experiences special feelings. They are difficult to describe: enlightenment, purification, revaluation of values ​​- any description may be suitable. And the ancient French city of Lourdes is one of these places. Pilgrims from all over the world, of different nationalities, skin colors and religions come here. Even the 14th Dalai Lama came here as a pilgrim:

“I firmly believe that we can take the necessary steps to achieve mutual understanding and harmony in relations between religions, thereby promoting peace and security in the world. One important way to achieve this goal is through increased interaction between religions, which can be facilitated by including visiting holy places of other faiths. If possible, representatives of different religions can offer joint prayer there. If not, simply indulge in silent contemplation. Such pilgrimages are an extremely valuable and deep experience. I once had the opportunity to visit Lourdes in the south of France not in as a tourist, but as a pilgrim. I drank holy water, stood at the statue of the Virgin Mary and thought that here, in this place, millions of people find blessing and peace. When I contemplated the statue of the Virgin Mary, admiration and gratitude for the Christian faith simply because it helps millions of people. Christianity may have a different philosophy, but the value of the help and the benefit that this religion brings to others is obvious."

Since 1864, the city has received official status from Rome as the place where 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary took place.

1873 - the year of the beginning of the mass pilgrimage to Lourdes. The medical commission constantly records healing cases occurring here - hundreds of thousands of patients find relief from various diseases here. As for MIRACLE healing from INCUREABLE ailments, today the Catholic Church has officially recognized 66 cases - i.e. incredible, defying any logic or common sense. It takes at least 15 years for each such case to be recognized - during this time, the condition of the person cured is constantly monitored, and only the absence of relapses allows us to recognize this as a MIRACLE. One such case occurred with a patient (for 3 years) with multiple sclerosis, 34-year-old Alice Couto from the French city of Bouille-Loretz. During the Holy Communion procession on May 15, 1952, she suddenly felt that she had to get out of bed. The next day, she was examined by Lourdes doctors, who reported a complete recovery. Years later, the church declared Alice's cure miraculous.

Every year there are at least 100 thousand sick people in Lourdes alone, hoping for healing. In general, the city receives more than 6 million visitors every year. Everything is designed to accommodate so many people - a huge train station, 2 hospitals with 1,500 beds each, the underground basilica The Basilica of St-Pius X with 25 thousand seats and 30 thousand standing places, etc. Lourdes ranks second in France after Paris in terms of the number of hotels.

PS from Martha: on my own behalf, I can add that from my point of view, the water in the source really has wonderful properties. I was in Lourdes with my son when he developed a high temperature against the background of an acute sore throat, he was feverish and shaking. We already wanted to go back, but we decided to at least get some water and wash ourselves, that is, do without visiting the church and the grotto. But there everything went away for him, my mother witnessed it. Well, the water there also has amazing transparency when frozen and boiled. You will say that this is not an indicator. And I will answer you - what an indicator! The fact is that almost all Pyrenean mountain water contains a large amount of minerals, and every time you brew water for tea, you observe a deep snow cover of mineral sediment, and you drink tea with the same mineral flakes. And if you boil water from a source, there is not even a hint of sediment. It may be funny to you, but for me this is yet another proof of the unusual properties of the water from the grotto of St. Bernadette in Lourdes.