UNTOUCHED BY DEATH

At Nevers, France, in the church of Saint-Gildard Convent, protected by an artistic glass case, lies the body of Our Lady's little friend, Bernadette Soubirous. Pilgrims are highly surprised seeing her so fresh and beautiful and ask: Is she real? Is she really incorrupt? Is that her face or a mask? Was she embalmed? ...

Bernadette, the visionary of Our Lady at Lourdes in France, was born on 7th January 1844, to Francois Soubirous and Louise Casterot. Bernadette was the eldest of six children. She was baptised the next day by the Abbe Forgues in the old parish church, being given the name Marie Bernarde. Because of her small stature, she was always referred to by the diminutive form of the name, Bernadette.

A shepherdess, Bernadette was from her birth a weak child, suffering even then from the asthma which would cause her so much suffering that later, in the convent, she would beg the nuns to tear open her chest that she might breathe.

The Blessed Virgin appeared to Bernadette when she was fourteen years old. The first apparition occurred 11 February, 1858. There were eighteen in all; the last took place 16 July, of the same year. Bernadette often fell into an ecstasy. The mysterious vision she saw in the hollow of the rock Massabielle was that of a young and beautiful lady. "Lovelier than I have ever seen" said the child. But the girl was the only one who saw the vision, although sometimes many stood there with her. Now and then the apparition spoke to the seer who also was the only one who heard the voice. It was at the sixteenth apparition that Our Lady revealed her name, "I AM THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION", she told Bernadette. At first the clergy were doubtful of the apparitions. It was only four years later, in 1862, that the bishop of the diocese declared the faithful "justified in believing the reality of the apparition".

The story of the apparitions is well known and it is not our intention to go over it again here. What we have in mind is not the apparitions but the seer, the girl Bernadette, and not what happened to her in life, but after her death.

Bernadette went to Nevers, a town on the Loire, south of Paris, in 1866, eight years after the apparitions. She entered the novitiate at the mother house of the Sisters of Charity and Christian Education. She became Sister Marie-Bernard, and never moved from there in life, and even after. Someone summarized those 13 years as "the passion of Bernadette."

When she died, on April 16, 1879, she was buried in a chapel in the garden that surrounds the convent. That garden was dear to her. Whenever she could, she would retire there to pray in a little secluded place, among evergreens, where a statue of Our Lady stands invoked as Notre-Dame-des-Eaus, (Our Lady of Waters) It seems that due to Mary's intercession, a spring of fresh water badly needed, was found in the premises. Probably Bernadette found in that corner something of the lonely beauty of Massabielle. One sees the hand of Providence arranging her burial there, instead of letting her be buried in the Tomb of the Congregation at the municipal cemetery where all the sisters, the General Superiors included, found their last resting place.

As soon as the news of her death spread. Rue de Saint-Gildard, which lay on the outskirts of the town then, became the center of gathering of all the town. All came to pay their respects to the little Sister of whom they had heard, but could not meet during her life. The body lay in state in the convent's chapel and all passing by, touched their rosaries and other objects to it.

Crowds began pouring in from the outside also and that went on for three days. On April 19 the doors were shut. Bernadette's body was laid in a coffin of oak which was placed into another of zinc, soldered shut, according to the law and sealed. A statement was drawn up, signed by the Sisters, prelates, a magistrate and two police officers who were present at the whole procedure. But it was only on May 30, 1879 that the coffin was laid to rest in the cave under the chapel of St. Joseph, in the garden.

During the war the place was bombed by the Americans in their 1944 offensive, towards Paris. The slab, recomposed, is now to be seen on the side wall. The French inscription, translated reads: "Here rests / in the peace of the Lord / Bernadette Soubirous / who was honoured at Lourdes in 1858 / with several apparitions / of the most Holy Virgin ..."

Here Bernadette rested, untouched, for thirty years, visited by thousands while the process of canonization was going on at the rhythm of the Church which, as the writer from whom we dip says, "uses centuries as unit of time and eternity as final perspective."

At last, the diocesan process on the fame of sanctity, virtues and miracles got over and the moment came, under the pressure of vast popular acclaim, to proceed to the prescribed recognition of the body, its legal and canonical identification and description of its physical present condition.

"Death, where is thy Sting?"
At 8:30 in the morning of September 22, 1909, Bishop Gauthey of Nevers, accompanied by the members of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal entered the Main Chapel of the convent.

Three witnesses, including the Mother General of the congregation, two doctors, two masons and two carpenters took their oath on the Gospel before entering the chapel, that they would declare the absolute truth about what they were about to witness. The Mayor of the town was also present. They all walked praying to the little chapel of St. Joseph.

The masons removed the store slab that closed the "cave" the coffin was lifted out and placed on trestles near a table covered with a specially embroidered table cloth. The carpenters cut and removed the zinc coffin, they unscrewed the wooden lid and, marvel of marvels, Bernadette's body appeared perfectly preserved. Some elderly sisters who had helped to prepare the body and placed it in the coffin thirty years before, were moved and not a little frightened at seeing her there again, as they had known her. The face and hands are inclined towards the left enhancing the impression that she is asleep and not dead. This posture will be preserved at the end of this inspection and two more that will take place later.

Died in 1879, Bernadette as seen today in Nevers, France.

Our Lady's little friend, Bernadette.
The face that saw Our Lady eighteen times.

"Ô my mother, in your heart
I placed all my anguish of my heart
and it is there that I gain strength and courage." St. Bernadette

Medical Verdict
The two physicians present said: "There was no hint of any unpleasant odour. The body was dressed in the habit of the Order which was damp. The face, hands and forearms were uncovered. The head was inclined towards the left. The face was pale white. Her nose thin, parchment like... The hands folded on the breast were perfectly preserved and the nails too, while the rosary entwined was eaten by rust. On the forearms the veins stood visible, so it was with the nails of the feet... "

At the foot of the description, the signatures. "Bearing witness to the above, we have drawn up this certificate. Dr. Ch. David, surgeon, Dr. A. Jordan, physician.

Time will tell
After this the sisters washed the body, dressed it and put it in a new coffin lined with white silk. It was closed and sealed with seven seals and returned to the same place in the chapel. It was 5.30 o'clock in the evening of that same day.

Bernadette had been sick most of the time of her religious life; she was buried in a damp place: witness the damp habit and the rosary chain in her hands eaten by verdigris. So, something extraordinary had happened there.

The second exhumation took place on April 3, 1919, and the third exhumation, with all the authorities and the two doctors, took place on April 18, 1925. Their declaration was the same as the one of the first inspection.

This time, small parts were removed, here and there, with maximum respect for the whole body, for relics to be sent to Rome, to the houses of congregations etc, as is the custom. Again the surgeon Compte, manifested his surprise at the perfect conservation of the body. The body was intact and could be lifted and carried to a table without any problem because of the perfect state of the bones and muscles.

Later, in an essay published in a scientific review, Comte wrote: "What surprised me more was the perfect conservation of the skeleton, muscles, ligaments, skin and elasticity and tonality of the muscles ... and even more the perfect state of the liver, 46 year after death ... still consistent and elastic. At the moment, I commented on this saying that I found the fact hardly explainable by physical rules..."

When their work was finished, the doctors wrapped the body in bands leaving the face and hands free. Then to remove the discoloration that the face had suffered due to the washing and repeated exposure to the air, a Paris firm of specialists applied a flimsy coat of wax to cover the face and make it more true to life.

Grande Finale
The body was then left, scrupulously sealed in the chapel of St. Helen in the Convent, and after the Beatification, June 14, 1925, when the precious glass urn was finished by Caillat-Catelan of Lyon, the body, dressed in the habit of the Order, was taken to the hall where Bernadette, just arrived from Lourdes and still dressed in the traditional costume of the Pyrenees had given the first and only account of the apparitions to a gathering of three hundred sisters.

After that, the urn was taken to the chapel on the right hand side of the main altar of the church.

There it is still, never ceasing to give a jolt of surprise and joy to all those who, from near and far, come to see the little peasant girl of the Pyrenees, chosen among millions to be the witness of the visit of Mary Immaculate to the world.

Still questioned by unbelievers on her deathbed. Bernadette would answer with strength beyond her physical power at the moment, "Yes, Yes, I have seen her!" So can all those answer who go humbly and prayerfully to Nevers: "Yes, yes, we have seen her! She is there fresh and incorrupt, so kept by the wish of the Virgin, herself fresh and incorrupt Mother of the Lord."

Bernadette was declared Blessed on Sunday 14th. June, 1925, the feast of the Sacred Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) by Pope Pius XI at the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome.

On 8th. December 1933, Pope Pius XI solemnly reads the declaration of the Canonization of Bernadette:
"To the honour of the most Holy and Undivided Trinity, for the glory of the Catholic Faith, and the increase in the Christian Faith, by the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ ... we declare and define Saint, the Blessed Marie-Bernard Soubirous, and we inscribe her in the Litany of the Saints, stating that her memory be piously celebrated in the Universal Church on 16th. April each year, the day of her heavenly birth. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Sprit."

On the centenary of the apparition in Lourdes, Pope Pius XII said, "It could not have been otherwise. Everything about Mary directs us to her Son, our only Savior, in anticipation of whose merits she was immaculate and full of grace. Everything about Mary raises us to the praise of the adorable Trinity; and so it was that Bernadette, praying her rosary before the grotto, learned from the words and bearing of the Blessed Virgin how she should give glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The unique glory of the shrine of Lourdes lies in the fact that people are drawn there from everywhere by Mary to adore Jesus ... In a society which is barely conscious of the ills which assail it, which conceals its miseries and injustices beneath a prosperous, glittering, and trouble-free exterior, the Immaculate Virgin, whom sin has never touched, manifests herself to an innocent child. With a mother's compassion she looks upon this world redeemed by her Son's blood, where sin accomplishes so much ruin daily, and three times makes her urgent appeal: "Penance, penance, penance!"

Go to her, you who are crushed by material misery, defenseless against the hardships of life and the indifference of men. Go to her, you who are assailed by sorrows and moral trials. Go to her, beloved invalids and infirm, you who are sincerely welcomed and honored at Lourdes as the suffering members of our Lord. Go to her and receive peace of heart, strength for your daily duties, joy for the sacrifice you offer.

"Kindly come . . . ," said the Virgin to Bernadette. This discreet invitation, which does not compel but is addressed to the heart and requests with delicacy a free and generous response, the Mother of God addresses again to her children in France and the whole world. Christians will not remain deaf to this appeal; they will go to Mary."

The Uncorrupted Bodies of many Saints and Venerables, their date of death and where they can be seen. There are many more than are listed here.

• St. Isadore the Farmer, D 1172, Madrid Spain.
• St. Rose of Viterbo, D 1252, Viterbo Italy. (Died aged 17)
• St. Sperandia, D 1276, Cingoli Italy.
• St. Zita, D 1278, Lucca Italy.
• St. Margaret of Cortona, D 1297, Cortona Italy.
• St. Clare of Montefalco, D 1308, Montefalco Italy.
• Bl. Margaret of Costello, D 1320, Citta-di-Castello Italy.
• Bl. Imelda Lambertini, D 1333, Bologna Italy.
• St. Bernardine of Siena, D 1444, L'Aquila Italy.
• St. Rita of Cascia, D 1457, Cascia Italy.
• St. Catherine of Bologna, D 1463, Bologna Italy.
• Bl. Osanna of Mantua, D 1505, Mantua Italy.
• St. Catherine of Genoa, D 1510, Genoa Italy.
• St. Angela Merici, D 1540, Brescia Italy.
• St. Francis Xavier, D 1552, Goa India.
• St. Teresa of Avila, D 1582, Alba de Tormes Spain.
• St. John of the Cross, D 1591, Segovia Spain.
• St. Philip Neri, D 1595, San Girolamo Italy.
• St. Andrew Bobola, D1657, Warsaw Poland.
• St. Lucy Filippini, D 1732, Monterfiascone, Italy.
• St. Leonard of Port Maurice, D. 1751, St. Bonaventure Italy.
• St. Teresa Margaret, D 1770, Florence Italy.
• St. Jean Vianney, Cure of Ars, D 1859, Ars France.
• Ven. Antonio María Claret y Clará, D 1870, Vich Spain
• St. Catherine Laboure. D 1876, Rue du Bac Paris France. (Another visonary of Our Lady, St. Catherine's body was found incorrupt when exhumed 57 years after her death in March, 1933)
• St. Bernadette of Lourdes. D 1879, Nevers, France. (January 7, 1844 - April 16, 1879 )
• St. Maria Liberata Pallotta, B 1878 - D 1905, Tong Eul Koo China.
• Bl. Aloysius Orione, B 1872 - D 1940, Italy. (His unembalmed body was found astonishingly incorrupt when they exhumed it in March 1965, the 25th anniversary of his death.)
• Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, B.1901 - D 1925, Turin, Italy. (Died aged 24, his mortal remains were found completely intact and incorrupt when exhumed 56 years after his death, on March 31, 1981.)