Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Every Photograph of St Bernardette


I found this my Facebook wall, I don't normally "do" Facebook, my thanks to Philip Andrews.

3 comments:

pelerin said...

Lovely to see these photographs of St Bernadette. I have just learnt from the Lourdes official website that the beautiful reliquary containing part of one of her ribs has been re-located.

It used to be in front of one of the outside altars completely hidden by an ugly small round wooden 'table altar'. So hidden that on my first visit I had no idea that there were any relics of St Bernadette there. Some years before I had visited the convent at Nevers where she is enshrined so did not expect there to be any relics in Lourdes.

The reliquary has now been removed to a place of honour in a chapel accessed through the Crypt. I am so pleased this has been done and hope the move is permanent.

There has been a webcam at the Grotto now for some time and as I understand that the diocese of A & B have just arrived in Lourdes some viewers may spot people they know there! I particularly enjoy watching in the depth of winter when the Grotto is (almost) deserted when it is snowing, or if I have difficulty sleeping watching in the middle of the night when there are nearly always one or two shadowy figures there near the pyramid of candles. By watching at different times on the website I was able to work out when the queues were at their shortest to enter the Grotto!

Mass in the Grotto can be followed on the website too and is celebrated in many different languages though not yet in Latin.

ancillamaria said...

This is very moving. In Albuquerque, NM there is the lovely Shrine of St. Bernadette! They have a life size bronze statue of her in a glass case. She looks like she is sleeping. There are also many relics such as a lock of hair, her sleeping sock and more. Attached to the Shrine is the St. Bernadette Institute of Sacred Art with many fine paintings, statues and other works of art depicting St. Bernadette. A life size statue of her was commissioned. Two were made and one of the bronze statues is on the church grounds and the other was sent as a gift to Lourdes and is now there for everyone to see and appreciate. As you can tell from the pictures, St. Bernadette was very small! Dan Paulos, the director of the Sacred Art Institute ( and an artist himself, trained by Sr. Mary Dorcy) has written 2 lovely books about St. Bernadette: "I, Bernadette "and "Remembering Bernadette." He is a very gracious man and loves talking about his dear Bernadette! I was privileged to meet him when visiting my folks and sister who live near the Shrine. They go there frequently. Aren't they blessed?!

ancillamaria said...

Oh, here is a link to the Shrine in Albuquerque! www.shrineofstbernadette.com
God bless
+JMJ+
amr

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