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The Lord’s descent into the underworld
At Matins/the Office of Readings on Holy Saturday the Church gives us this 'ancient homily', I find it incredibly moving, it is abou...
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I was at the Verona Opera Festival when Summorum Pontificum was published but it wasn't until All Souls Day that I first attempted to s... -
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9 comments:
Thank you so much, Father, for pointing us to this film.
I had intended to go to Mass this evening in a local church dedicated to our Lady of Lourdes but sadly a close encounter with a stone step last week has forced me to change my plans.
I see that the whole film can be viewed from your site so I will watch it later this evening. thank you again - I would never have thought of finding it on youtube.
According to the French news today some 70,000 people attended Mass in Lourdes this morning. It must have been a wonderful experience. I am planning to go in August again providing I don't fall down any more steps!
As a young child in 1958, I remember being taught a song at school of which the chorus went 'Tap your sabots, Bernadette'. I assume this was in commemoration of the centenary of the Apparitions.
I can only recall a few of the words, though the tune is pretty-well fixed in my memory. I wonder if anyone knows the words to this song?
Anyone who has not read the book, should do so.
The film is a faithful adaptation, and there are some very fine characterisations, particularly, I think, by Charles Bickford as the Dean of Lourdes.
But the film cannot possibly depict Bernadette's entire life.
"The Song of Bernadette" speaks not only about the Apparation of Our Lady and the miracles of Lourdes.
It speaks of the things of heaven and the things of earth, of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity, of the depravity of this world which we are so attached to, of the immortal and the mortal, of Faith, of the inadequacy of human reason without faith, of strength and frailty, of the power of prayer and the wondrous world of the eternal.
No wonder the critics didn't understand the film when it was first released !
And I doubt they had read the book.
Intially, it seems to me, everyone doubted Bernadette : her sisters, her playmates, her own parents, her teachers, the Dean of Lourdes, the Bishop of Tarbres, the civil authorities.
But no one could shake her story, or her faith.
She had no life after this.
Not what we would call a life.
She had known poverty, illness, hardship, ridicule, loneliness.
(She would have hated worldy fame, or what she would call notoriety.)
She continued to know these things when she entered the convent of the Sisters of Mercy, at Nevers, where, too, she was initially doubted.
She was never in good health, and died young.
Seek first the kingdom of heaven, (but don't expect to find true happiness on this earth.)
A salutary lesson for us all.
I too learned 'Tap your Sabots' at school in the early 70s - I loved it but nobody else has ever heard it. So, in answer to Thomasso the words I remember are:
Tap your sabots Bernadette, once before the lady smiled, where the river flows
Tap your sabots Bernadette, heaven wants you for a child, where the river flows
We come behind you Bernadette, you lead the way across the hill,
this world of ours dare not forget your rendezvous behind the mill
We come with all our ills and woes, to meet you where the river flows
Tap your sabots Bernadette ......
not sure how accurate the words are but remember singing it and loving the words and tune
I too learned 'Tap your sabots' at school in the early 70s - I loved it but nobody else has ever heard it. So, in answer to Thomasso the words I remember are:
Tap your sabots Bernadette, once before the lady smiled, where the river flows
Tap your sabots Bernadette, heaven wants you for a child, where the river flows
We come behind you Bernadette, you lead the way across the hill,
this world of ours dare not forget your rendezvous behind the mill
We come with all our ills and woes, to meet you where the river flows
Tap your sabots Bernadette ......
not sure how accurate the words are but remember singing it and loving the words and tune
I remember that song "Tap your sabots, Bernadette" too from the 1950s. In fact I thought of it only ten minutes ago while watching a DVD of "The Song of Bernadette", so I googled the song title and was directed to your blog. My wife and I have been to Lourdes on several occasions and intend to drive there shortly stopping off with my daughter who lives in Clermont Ferrand. It is a marvelous place, once inside the area around the grotto and away from the tat outside.
Tap Your Sabots, Bernadette
- by Pere Aime Duval, SJ
We come behind you Bernadette, you lead the way across the hill,
This world of ours dare not forget your rendezvous behind the mill.
We come with all our ills and woes, to meet you where the river flows.
Chorus: Tap your sabots Bernadette, once before the lady smiled, where the river flows.
Tap your sabots Bernadette, heaven listened to a child, where the river flows.
We come behind you, we ashamed, who have long memories of sin.
Deeds which had better pass unnamed, we hardly know where to begin.
The Jordan everybody knows, we'll meet you where the river flows.
Chorus: Tap your sabots Bernadette, once before the lady smiled, where the river flows.
Tap your sabots Bernadette, heaven listened to a child, where the river flows.
We come behind you with our friends, their bodies racked with cruel disease,
And while the sad procession wends, beseech the Lady if you please.
As at Bethesda long ago, we'll meet you where the waters flow.
Chorus: Tap your sabots Bernadette, once before the lady smiled, where the river flows.
Tap your sabots Bernadette, heaven listened to a child, where the river flows.
Notes from my memory of being a member of the choir (comprised of students from the various schools in the Salford Archdiocese) Manchester Free Trade Hall, 1958 -54 years ago this month, I believe!
• Pere Duval sang the first verse and chorus on his own, accompanying himself on his guitar.
• The choir and the whole audience then joined in for a repeat of the chorus.
• Father continued singing the verses, with the choir and the audience joining him on the chorus
• For the final chorus, there was no singing. Father Duval just strummed and whistled its melody while everyone else hummed it. Can still send goose bumps down my spine remembering it all!
http://lordofthebootsale.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/father-duval-lourdes-centenary-festival.html
This is a link to a copy of Father Duval's recording of 'Tap Your Sabots Bernadette'
I hope anybody who listens enjoys it as much as I did. Best wishes.
We have been married(Esther & James) since 1986 and by 1988 we had no cholf pf our own. My wife was a Catechism teacher at oir Lady of Lourdes, Klang, Malaysia. In the middle of 1998, she did a play performed by her Catechism class titled " Song of Bernadette". The main girst for that day was the late Archbishop Dominic Vendargon. The next month she conceived and we planned to name her Abigail. The baby was born in June 1989. Two days later, in early morning, prior to go to the registrar for naming the child, something strange happened. Just as i came out of the showers, i felt like a lightning bolt hit my head and i had to name her Bernadette, which i eventually did. Another daughter was born in late 1990 and we named her Abigail. When the time came for her higher studies, i prayed to Saint Bernadette for her assistance to get her into Ireland . Anyway as time went by, both my daughters eventually finished their studies in Australia
Bernadette became a scientist and Abigail became a Chiropractor.
Bernadette met her soul mate, an Irish Catholic boy named Norman and have decided to get married at the same Church, Our Lady of Lourdes Klang on 1st July 2017. Thank you Mother Mary.
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