DEATH OF ST. BERNADETTE
On April 16, 1879 (145 years ago) at 3.15pm Bernadette Soubirous, or Sister Marie-Bernard, as she was known within her order — died in the Sainte Croix (Holy Cross) Infirmary of the Convent of Saint-Gildard in Nevers, France. She was only 35 years old.
The nuns of the convent knelt around her bed to repeat the prayers for the dying, they heard her say in a low voice, ”Blessed Mary, Mother of God, pray for me! A poor sinner, a poor sinner-” She could not finish…….
Bernadette’s body was placed in a casket which was sealed, then buried near the chapel of St. Joseph in the convent grounds. She was exhumed in 1908 by the commission formed to forward the examination of her life and character, and she was found to be intact and incorrupt.
In August of 1913, Pope Pius X conferred the title of Venerable upon her, and on June 14, 1925, the ceremony of beatification took place. Since then, her body, reposes in a glass reliquary, in the St. Gildard Convent of Nevers Chapel.
In Rome, on December 8, 1933, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Bernadette Soubirous was canonized by Pope Pius XI as a Saint.
I visited Nevers a good few years ago and it was an experience I’ll never forget. To see Bernadette just a few feet away from you was just amazing, and to walk around the convent in her footsteps was so special.
