Das Lied von Bernadette

by Franz Werfel

This is the famous and highly acclaimed classic work that tells the true story surrounding the miraculous visions of St. Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, France in 1858. Werfel, a highly respected literary writer who was an outspoken anti-Nazi from Vienna, became a Jewish refugee who barely escaped death from the Nazis in 1940, and wrote this moving story to fulfill a promise he made to God. Thus the story of how this book about a miracle came to be written is in itself something of a miracle.

As he and his wife were hiding out in the little village of Loudres while trying to escape to freedom in the USA during WWII, Werfel felt the Nazi noose tightening around them and realizing that they might well be caught and executed, he made a promise to God to write about the "song of Bernadette" that he had been deeply inspired by during their clandestine stay in Lourdes.

An amazing aspect of this powerful portrayal of a Catholic saint and an essentially Catholic story is that Werfel was a rather secular Jew, and yet he was so deeply impressed by both Bernadette and the happenings at Lourdes, that his writing has a profound sense of Catholicism's sacramental imagination about the world.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Religion, Catholic, Classics, France, Christian

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Czech-born poet, playwright, and novelist, whose central themes were religious faith, heroism, and human brotherhood. Franz Werfel's best-known works include The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (1933), a classic historical novel that portrays Armenian resistance to the Turks, and The Song of Bernadette (1941). The latter book had its start when Werfel, a Jew escaping the Nazis, found solace in the pilgrimage town of Lourdes, where St. Bernadette had had visions of the Virgin. Werfel made a promise to "sing the song" of the saint if he ever reached the United States. He died in California in 1945.

Reviews

[Danusha Goska · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoever you are, gentle reader, I recommend this book to you. It is one of those universal classics that powerfully, skillfully, and with thoroughgoing integrity, addresses a truly universal phenomenon: the encounter of mortal, corporeal, limited human beings with the numinous.

That's something we all share, no matter our language or religion. One day we are walking along, leading our workaday lives, and -- something happens. Something that just does not fit in what we can conceive of as real. We have a dream, we see, however fleetingly, a ghost, we know something we should not have known.

How do we respond? What is the proper response?

A related question: Human suffering. Why? What is God *thinking*? Or, isn't human suffering proof that there is no God?

Franz Werfel's "Song of Bernadette" takes up these questions, questions that every sentient creature must ponder at least once in his or her lifetime. And Werfel does a bang-up job.

Werfel himself was no stranger to either phenomenon. He knew suffering, and he knew the numinous. He had previously written of the Armenian genocide. He was a Jew escaping from Hitler when he, inspired by a trip to Lourdes in his escape, undertook to complete a vow and write something that would honor what he experienced there.

I was wary of this book. Mindful of the Jennifer Jones - Vincent Price movie (what a combo), I expected a spongy, pious, icky book. Boy, was I wrong.

From the start, the reader realizes that no matter what else he is, Werfel was an excellent writer. Born in Prague, he was a peer of Franz Kafka and had an established reputation before he began "Song," having been voted the most popular author in the German language in 1926, and having won the Grillparzer Prize, the Schiller Prize, and the Czechoslovakian State Prize, among others.

One of Werfel's great gifts is that he doesn't try to sell you anything that you don't want to buy. He uses his literary skill to recreate a humble peasant's life for you, to drag you into a grim dwelling where an ordinary peasant girl is doing her chores, and coughing asthmatically. Believe me; this is not a child you feel any temptation to worship. She could be anyone, anyone. From these particulars, Werfel creates a universal tale.

Now, the tough part. Werfel, of course, is writing about GOD. That topic that makes people get crazy with each other. And he's writing about a miracle, an event that, by its definition, defies human belief.

I'll be frank. I'm a lifelong Catholic. And *I* find Bernadette Soubirous' story hard to believe. Were I sick, I would not seek healing at Lourdes; I'd go to a medical doctor.

This is where Werfel's skill as a writer really shines. He does not even attempt to describe the miracles in a believable way. Rather, he describes the *reactions* of observers in a way that I found completely believable. I believe that average people, when confronted with the numinous, would react exactly as the characters in Werfel's book are described as reacting.

Werfel never converted to Catholicism. After reading his masterful book, I, a Catholic, have more questions than answers about what really happened - and about what really continues to happen - at Lourdes. Indeed, those not at all Catholic, but interested in the power of the mind to heal the body, have included Lourdes on their research itineraries.

It was Werfel who first gave me pause about Bernadette, and about Lourdes. Without having read his book, I think I would have dismissed Bernadette, had I given her any thought at all, as a hoaxer, or as someone with some mental disability. Isn't that how we usually respond when confronted with the numinous, but at a distance? Werfel provides us with portraits of people who respond exactly that way, and others who have to handle the numinous when confronted with it at first hand. The contrasts are wonderfully drawn, as are the occasional conversions.

As Werfel so wonderfully says, "for those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who do not believe, no explanation is possible."

We all, at some moment or another, wrestle with ourselves to discover on what side of that line we take our stand. At such moments, we could do worse than pick up Werfel's "Song of Bernadette."

[``Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm absolutely speechless (which doesn't happen often) after reading The Song of Bernadette. This lyrical account of St. Bernadette was profoundly moving and well worth reading.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This book style is what I have been looking for all my life. I struggle through fiction books. This non-fiction story based on real events, people, places was wonderful to read. I just had to say that because when I started reading it, I realized that what the author was writing about was taking certain liberties. I did some research and found that the author focused on facts that would make the book fictional based on interviews. It is like a movie based on actual events. I LOVED IT!!!!!

OK, I have read books based on actual events before. It must be that this book covered the life of Saint Bernadette from a Jewish person's perspective. The Holy Spirit was working in these words to pass along the incredible life of Saint Bernadette. I wish that all of our saints had books covering their life in this style.

I read Saint Faustina's diary before this book. I had a desire to hear Bernadette's account of the story in her own words. To get the story from other perspectives (even those that were enemies/adversaries that Bernadette came across) enriched my grasp on what happened so many years ago. Werfel made me feel for Bernadette and the sufferings she bore. It is easy enough for me to say that I am wanting to be a saint. But further inspection has me believe that wanting to be a saint is more for the glory than for God.

Bernadette suffered in many ways as most saints did. And this book did a magnificent job of portraying the struggles of experiencing a miracle in the past decade. I could not even imagine what you would have to go through to prove that you saw Our Lady in an apparition.

I also appreciate Werfel including the many years after the miracle at Lourdes. Being able to read an account of her last years of life and what Lourdes looked like 20 years later. I did not get the sense that Werfel was poking at the Catholic church with his telling of the relationships Bernadette ran into at the convent. I approach religious people who have taken the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience on a pedestal. I think of them as superhuman that have close, prayerful relationships with God. I understand that is a utopian idea and one based solely on hope. It was good to see the religious in this light and wrestle with my impression of the clergy.

This book gives me hope of eternal salvation and glimpse of what that looks like. Saint Bernadette is a good example of a humble, servant of God and one to learn from.

[Lemar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fran Werfel tells a story many in 1941 must have initially thought unimportant and hopelessly out of fashion, a story about a strong woman, a story about a divine vision. I can only imagine his publisher's disappointment. It turned out to be a major book and was made into a movie (that I haven't yet seen) only two years later.
"For it was not the world that abandoned me but I who abandoned the world." Franz Werfel found himself stranded in the south of France, trying to stay ahead of nazi pursuers and collaborators on the path up through the Pyrenees, through Franco's Spain and into Portugal where a Jewish family could get out of continental Europe. In an effort to not feel that the world had abandoned him, he embraced the town of Lourdes that provided vital sanctuary for him and his wife, (the famous Alma Mahler, Gropius Werfel) and sang the "Song of Bernadette", telling in glorious fashion the story of the poor young girl who saw a vision in the grotto nearby and remained steadfast in her account.
What's so glorious about the telling is that Werfel is true to his subject. This remarkable girl never sought personal glory and had to fend off both ridicule and accusations of criminal fraud. In this spirit, Werfel too avoids flowery, inspirational passages and let's the power of Bernadette's song resound unadorned.
Werfel sees in this story an instrument of opening people's minds. We are all subjected to ads, lies, evangelism, and consumer pressure from the time we can walk. Even at the time of Bernadette, 1858, the world was pretty much past it, 'a vision of a lady, you gotta be kidding'. But Werfel spent much of his life communicating the idea that man's way out of a life of quiet desperation, of near suicidal apathy, lay in opening our minds to the idea that there is more. I'm not a religious person. Organized religion has done more to oppress people, suppress belief and encourage cynicism than most any other force. But when we run up against the limits of our power, and we all do, spiritual options present a meaningful path for many, me included. The alternative is material atheism, "a religion too, though the worst in the world."
Werfel took on the research of this story and came away feeling that the account of "the lady who had appeared to do something to stem the sickness of the world" was worth telling, that it had meaning in 1940. He goes on to tell how basically nobody with an official title, bureaucrat or clergy, welcomed this vision. The church saw it as a 'ghost story' that would further erode their stature, the State saw it as a reversion to superstition just as France was ridding itself of exactly that. "State and Church lived in fear of every manifestation of the rebellious masses' will. The deepest motive of those two endangered institutions is always their fear of mankind's own volition." So they lean on Bernadette. I came away with a huge admiration for this resolute woman. In Bernadette's time, in Werfel's time, and in ours, a person who tells this story is likely to sound like a sentimental nut who is staggered by the world, or a simpleminded fool who does not believe in science. And yet there are mysteries on this planet: love, honor, compassion, truth, a commitment to care about immigrants, people outwardly unlike oneself. These are not cold rational traits, it takes a fair amount of creative spinning to fit them into an evolutionary model, so maybe...
In my experience religious people are often closed-minded and judgmental. Yet Werfel says, "a miracle supported by proven but inexplicable cures meant so enormous a breach in the official deism and non-official nihilism of the age as to shake to their foundation both the certainty of unbelief and the uncertainty of faith." Bernadette upset everybody's comfortable conception of life. Mine too.
"Art is religion secularized. Consequently art is the religion of the nineteenth century." M. Lafite, a poet I identified with, says early in the book. Circumstances force him to consider opening his mind even further.
I have to mention that the translation by Ludwig Lewisohn was pitch perfect!

[Yigal Zur · Rating 5 out of 5]

the story of Bernadette a simple girl turned into a sacred and holy figure and in reality the struggle between a dreamer and the religious system drawn in the hand of a master writer.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Description (from the foreword by George Weigel): The Song of Bernadette By Franz Werfel This is the classic work that tells the true story surrounding the miraculous visions of St. Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, France in 1858. Werfel, a highly respected anti-Nazi writer from Vienna, became a Jewish refugee who barely escaped death in 1940, and wrote this moving story to fulfill a promise he made to God. While hiding in the little village of Lourdes, Werfel felt the Nazi noose tightening, and realizing that he and his wife might well be caught and executed, he made a promise to God to write about the “song of Bernadette” that he had been inspired by during his clandestine stay in Lourdes. Though Werfel was Jewish, he was so deeply impressed by both Bernadette and the happenings at Lourdes, that his writing has a profound sense of Catholic understanding. “On re-reading the Song, what struck me most about Werfel’s craft was how deeply this Jewish writer, who had long been interested in Catholicism but who had never converted, had entered into Catholicism’s sacramental imagination. For all its unsparing depiction of the poverty of the French Pyrenees, the pettiness of local officialdom, the skepticism and institutional-mindedness of local churchmen, The Song of Bernadette is shot through with a sense of the extraordinary that lies on the far side of the ordinary, revealing itself through the simplest things.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGtUt...

According to wiki: The novel is laid out in five sections of ten chapters each, in a deliberate nod to the Catholic Rosary. Had planned to watch this last week, Easter week, only for highlighting the stupidity to this day (Hungary, for one, I look at you) of calling all Jews down the ages 'Christ murderers'.

Vincent Price is perfect as the cynical pragmatist: 'Every time religious fanaticism comes forward, mankind moves backwards.' Yeah! look at Nimrud today.

[Bernadette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to believe that in 12 years of Catholic school I was not required to read this book. I loved the story, and learned a lot, but I could have cut 200 pages from this 550+ page book and not missed a thing. At times the detail was excruciating and confusing. A "cast list" at the front of the book was extremely helpful in keeping straight all the people involved in Bernadette's life and the miracles at Lourdes. That being said, the second half was much better and easier to read, the story of Bernadette's love of "the lady" and how many people tried to stop her, distrust her and her motives, or capitalize on her visions, was so moving, and the fact that the author was a Jew who escaped the Nazis, was hidden in Lourdes where he learned the story of Bernadette and vowed to "sing her song" if he made it safely out of Nazi occupied France made it all the more interesting and touching. 4.5 stars (couldn't give it 5 because of how long it took me to get through it!)

[Isabella Grado · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a beautiful masterpiece of thanksgiving from Frank Werfel to both Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette. The character, struggles, and virtue of the child of Lourdes was expressed throughout the novel, as he portrayed the apparition scenes, and the opposition that Bernadette faced as a result. While reading, one comes to recognize both the great gift and great suffering that Bernadette received throughout her life. She’s a simple soul. A peasant girl, through whom our Blessed Mother found worthy to share her message with Lourdes in 1858, and ultimately the whole world. She was basically Thérèse before Thérèse.

I was most especially moved by her great humility and trust. She was a sickly child and known for her lack of intelligence, often chastised by her classmates, and even family. Through the investigation of the apparitions, she endured great trials through which she exhibited great faith. In the final seven years of her life, she suffered immensely and accepted it with great joy, wishing for more suffering for the sake of the world. The little girl who obeyed her Mother to bring about the miraculous waters of Lourdes rejected the very waters that could heal her. She stated that they were not for her.

Through this novel, one is drawn to the virtue of a little soul, and can find yet another friend in Heaven to intercede on their behalf.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Song of Bernadette was written by Franz Werfel and published in 1941.

Franz was a Jew who took refuge in Lourdes, France with his wife during World War 2. It was there that he learned about the famous Bernadette and vowed to write a tribute to her when he escaped to the United States.

The Song of Bernadette is set in the mid 1800’s and follows a peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous who has visions of a lady who later identifies herself as the Immaculate Conception, which everyone agrees must be the Virgin Mary. Since that time Bernadette has been canonized as a saint. Through these visions a spring is discovered which had miraculous healing affects on the sick. This book examines the ripple affect miracles have throughout the various branches of society.

Going into this I was familiar with the movie from the 40’s which I grew up with. I also had heard of people in the modern day traveling to Lourdes to visit the grotto. I was no stranger to Bernadette. I had no idea this was a book however until I stumbled across it at an estate sale in my town.

The way this was written was very thorough. Bernadette is painted in an honest light. A simple peasant girl with no special connection to religion before she sees these visions. Everyone reacts to these visions differently. The average person both wealthy and poor seem to be mesmerized by these miracles. The higher ups are threatened at this rub with the divine. From the law and the church, to the government. Bernadette is put through many trials to see whether she is mentally ill or perhaps this is a scam for money.

Of course eventually through many trials, the miracles are accepted. The Catholic Church finally accepts these occurrences and Lourdes becomes a place of pilgrimage and healing.

I loved seeing how this miracle affected everybody. How much it shook the very foundations of society. The exploration of this was very interesting. Especially when it came to religion. Werfel criticized the religion of the time for not accepting it at first by saying ,” I have no doubt the reason is that all that is called religion today is mechanical repetition, empty convention, and political factionalism. So when an original human creature really experiences the presence of its divinities and sees the invisible in visible form in the manner of ages that were truly religious, then, of course, the conventional imitators are filled with moral discomfort. For nothing so irritates an age of faint and servile copying as the appearance of an authentic thing.”

I was happy that at the end of the day the miracles were accepted. Bernadette though never had an easy life. Definitely the vibe of this book was the harshness of society juxtaposed with the promise of more. The promise of the divine.

I liked this story a lot. I am always curious about the divine and the miraculous. I am not too skeptical of a person. I am open minded and like to believe that there is more than the eye can see. That miracles do happen. If anything physically bad ever happened to me ( I mean I really hope not) I think I would ask to be taken straight to Lourdes and give those healing waters a shot!

I recommend this to those that like me are spiritually open minded and curious about this story. Or to those that are Catholic and interested in this story of one of your saints!

[Ovečka · Rating 5 out of 5]

To byla nádhera, dočteno pár minut zpátky, takže jsem pořád ještě dost dojatá xd. Píseň o Bernadettě je hodně silná a intenzivní kniha. Název je však, podle mě, možná i v cíleném rozporu s obsahem, protože kniha ani zdaleka nezpívá jen o Bernadettě Soubirousové, na příběh této mladé pokorné dívky je pohlíženo z perspektiv mnoha lidí, jejichž pohledy se postupně měnily, pochybovali, zdráhali se uvěřit a nakonec se stejně většina z nich sklonila před L'Immaculada Councepciou. Moc se mi líbilo přesné vykreslení jednotlivých charakterů. Mně osobně se však do hlavy nejvíc vryl samotný vztah mezi Bernadettou a její Dámou... Nejen z duchovního hlediska se jedná o opravdu inspirativní knihu. Vřele doporučuji 🙏🙏

[Santiago Vieto Rodríguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A skillfully writed song! This “romance” shows in a sharp way the conflict of the materialistic atheistic world that was brutally irrupting in the XIV century with the beauty, true, and goodness of the atemporal supernatural.

The apparitions and miracles operated in Lourdes were a great hit against the sceptical spirit of the time, that continues to this day.

Showing the essence of holiness in the story of a little poor girl, that was elected among all women of her time by the most high creature of God, because of her simplicity and humbleness.
The same thing that made God choose The Holy Virgen Mary for being the Mother of God.
This book prove once more that God like to win through humble people.

“Deposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles"

Deeply moving the testimony of St. Bernardette, encouraging us to live by love above all thins. In her bed of sorrows she said her last words: I Love!

[Matt Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

For non-Catholics who are interested in religion, miracles are a major question. If they really occur, our world view has to be entirely different than if they do not. Werfel, a Jew, presents two questions for us in his superb novel. First, was Bernadette honest or a fraud? We can never know if she really saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary, but Werfel concludes she was totally honest in her belief that she had seen Mary. Second, did the miraculous healings attributed to the spring located at the site of the vision really happen? The Catholic Church concluded they did, when raising Bernadette to the rank of Saint. Werfel presents the miracles as fact in his novel; it's not clear whether he personally accepted them. I rather doubt he did, as he never converted to Christianity.

As a novel, leaving the historical questions aside, it's very well done. Excellent descriptive prose. Well drawn picture of Bernadette's prolonged and painful end. Not in the same class as his masterpiece, 40 days of Musa Dagh, but well worth reading.

I have not seen the film, which starred Jennifer Jones, but my wife's first comment about the film was the beautiful beatific expression on Jones' face when contemplating the vision. Werfel also makes it a point that onlookers knew when Bernadette was in the presence of the vision, which they could not see, from the expression on her face. So I conclude the moviemakers did a good job of translating that point.

[Charles Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had this book on my shelf for a while. I always thought is would be kind of sappy book for children. I was wrong. It was not what I expected at all. It helps to know that the author, Franz Werfel, a Jew from Vienna, was on the run from the Nazis and found temporary shelter in Lourdes. He was clearly moved by the story of Bernadette and her visions. But what makes the book so interesting is that so many of the characters express their doubts and disgust and what they saw was a spectacle, including many in the Church. There are also some great discussions between the town's intellectuals who were trying to come to grips with their modernism and an event that some were genuinely moved by. Whether you're Catholic or not, even if you're not religious, you will be moved by this wonderful story.

[Cambria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I want to travel to Lourdes so badly now!

[Anna Sobczak · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I, too, am not accustomed to believing things I cannot see” 288

I think all of us, even hardcore Catholics can struggle accepting the teachings of the Church which we cannot see. Among the great invisible and unknowable mysteries of Catholicism are miracles. This book, though written by a Jewish man, so deeply honors the miracle filled story of Bernadette, that it is a wonder he did not convert. He does this not only by not passing judgement upon if she truly saw the Virgin Mary or not but by taking a story about Bernadette and turning it into a story about so much more, a story about Lourdes, a story about healing and faith, a story about mankind and his search for meaning in the heavens. He does not say that Bernadette assuredly saw the Virgin but he does describe how many came to believe in her and came to have faith in the visions, especially those among the atheists, scientists, and firm deniers who came to Lourdes in the early days of the apparitions. These testimonies, from real figures, serve Bernadette’s case far better than his personal opinions on the case.

Bernadette’s story comes alive through the eyes of those who were closest to her and witnessed the events at Lourdes: her parents, the mayor and politicians of Lourdes, the lawmen, bishops, pilgrims, sisters, and unbelievers. Each of which, the author takes considerable time developing as characters. Yes, characters. Rather than being written like a biography, the author (a poet and a writer by trade) writes the story of Bernadette as he would a novel, developing the setting, dialogue, and key figures that exist within the established “plot” of real life events. This makes the story incredibly engaging and gives what would be written off as insignificant side characters in a Bernadette biography, real motivation, thoughts, and emotions. Just see these two quotes below

“ I know we (mankind) are a wretched animal species, distinguished from the insects and amphibians by but a few nerve centers….truth is a million times more inaccessible to us than calculus is to a louse.”

“I have often had the wish that we (mankind) might be satisfied with small results, but my voracious heart was not made to be thus satisfied” 551

The amount of thought the author put into understanding who these people in Bernadette’s life were as people is astonishing. He spent just as much time researching the mayor of Lourdes as he did researching the titular figure. Anyways, this books is a wonderful read for all. Not only a great true story, but a well written novel, it’s not everyday you stumble on one like this!

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful telling of St Bernadette and her vision at Lourdes. I am very familiar with the apparition and the Saint, through the movie and numerous other books. Most important I have been blessed to visit Lourdes. St. Bernadette suffered tremendously because of the vision but humility and acceptance of Gods will and grace remained primary. Many character populate the book. Perhaps the insight to the writer Hyacinthe is most compelling. A very inspiring way to start Holy Week by pondering the life of St Bernadette

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book surprised me. I thought, due to the time it was written and my memories of the movie, that it would be sentimental and forced. Instead, I found this story to be powerful, gritty, reverent, and, like its titular character, unflinchingly honest.
(I watched the movie to fact check my memory. Though not as grounded as the book, it was much better than my child brain remembered.)

[Jeena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read from birth to canonization of st. Bernadette. lol why are they always trying to arrest children when there’s a Marian apparition. Kinda CRAZY fun read very long and detailed. Would recommend but you gotta be in the MOOD for it because of how long it is

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

If ever anyone back their way into a book, it was my path to Franz Werfel's The Song of Bernadette. It was a slightly suggestive satirical song about his wife. Alma (Gustav)Mahler, (Walter) Gropius (Franz) Werfel. A woman of some musical talent and a relatively large collection of Austrian artists. Not all of them husbands. Her last husband was author of this book. But not yet. I learned that the two of them were escaping from the Nazis. He was not only Jewish, but a vocal opponent of Nazism. In short, they wanted him dead, with little reason to spare his wife. The two of them escaped into, but not quickly out of France. Safe haven was found in Lourdes. Franz, already interested in the problems of bigotry and religion, became deeply impressed and inspired by the young woman, by whose Grace, made of Lourdes a place of miracles and spiritual focus.

He promised to sing the Song of Bernadette. And from that promise came this book and somewhere in that trail came I.

Franz Werfel has written a modern book about what was by then an 80 year old story. The author’s goal was to honor the woman, but not to make of her more than she made of herself. The Song is a positive story of simple inspiration and a challenge to believe or not. Around this woman of faith, are many and contradictory themes. There are motives of selfishness and efforts of trickery. The Catholic Church protects itself from posers and impostors while maintaining the possibility of saints and miracles. Werfel’s brilliance is in not making of his novel a parade of maudlin sentimentality nor another of cynicism. At intervals we are asked, do we choose to believe? If not, can we explain? Can there be evidence sufficient to prove the miraculous, or can we only depend on faith. That which we believe despite or because of the evidence.

Between 11 February and 16 July 1858, Bernadette Soubirous, then aged 14 experienced visions of a beautiful lady. The Lady never names herself, and is only comes close by referring to herself as: the "Immaculate Conception”. It seems important that to Bernadette, her vision is never other than the Beautiful Lady. Bernadette is never asked to promote her vision, to trade on it or to perform miracles. All Bernadette is required to do inspired to do is pray and to return to Lourdes and be there to see Her Lady. At the bidding of Her Lady Bernadette does discover what is now the grotto from which springs the waters of Lourdes. These waters and the church now there are a pilgrimage site where millions still come seeking relief and inspiration.

Based on the book, Bernadette was sickly, mostly with Asthma, not thought to be smart or religious. In d her youth, the social standing of her immediate family had greatly diminished. Her visions were initially greeted with exactly the kinds of disbelief and suspicions we would have toward a similar child to this day. No one had more than the child’s passion upon which to base their responce. Later, when she discovered the spring, factions would divide the community between the suspicious and the believing. Almost immediately there was a miracle. The Church would make several efforts to suppress the child and to uncover possible deceit. Later Rome would authorize a canonical investigation and in 1862 she would be deemed "worthy of belief".

Bernadette was now 18. A lady who should have been seeking marriage. Indeed, she has at least one would be suiter. Delicately Werfel suggests to us, that a possible saint should not be courting or having children. Unspoken is the problem of her virginity. Preferred is the seemliness of her living a life apart. Willingly, Bernadetta joins and lives out her life as one of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. There in 1879 she died, age 35. She was canonized as a saint in 1925.

As much as this is a story of faith, and of the good that an innocent child can inspire, by her act of believing; Franz never demands that we believe. We are exposed to many opinions and few are condemned. Some are clearly driven my earthly desires, for fame, for money, but as often people have their opinions and beliefs. Some change and none are marked as evil for failure to believe. Never off the board are the questions:
Do you believe?
What will it take to get you to believe?

I would add: Does it matter if you believe?

[Antoinette Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendous. The movie resulted in my choosing the name and saint at my confirmation. The book, read later after adulthood proved to be magnificent.

[dely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ho deciso di leggere questo libro non soltanto perché prima o poi mi piacerebbe andare a Lourdes, ma anche perché mi era piaciuto molto lo stile, il linguaggio e la capacità di narrare un evento storico de I quaranta giorni del Mussa Dagh dello stesso autore.
Il canto di Bernadette è scorrevole, commovente, e si ha un quadro completo e dettagliato della vita e le apparizioni di questa santa.
Ne consiglierei la lettura anche a chi non è interessato a Lourdes o a santi cattolici perché è comunque coinvolgente e interessante.

English
Another amazing book that moved me to tears more than once. It's the fictionalized story of Bernadette, the saint of Lourdes, that has seen the Vergin more than once. I didn't know anything about her so, seen that someday I would like to go to Lourdes, I thought it would be good to know something about Bernadette, her life and her apparitions. I also decided to read this book because I already liked The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by the same author. He has a flowing style and is really able to talk in an interesting and enthralling way about historical events.
I think this book could be interesting also for people that aren't Catholics.

[Emily M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bernadette Soubirous was only fourteen when she claimed to have apparitions of the Virgin Mary. The Author, Franz Werfel, captures Bernadette's story, illuminating her life before, during, and after the apparitions.

Bernadette, a pour, sickly girl living in Lourdes, France, was called a liar when she told her closest friend of the woman, "too beautiful for words." To Bernadette's dismay, the word of her visions spread swiftly through the still developing town. Officials tried in Vain to put a stop to Bernadette's Stories, but as she continued to visit the Lady, word spread even to other countries. Pilgrims and the Sick flocked to Lourdes, in hope that the Lady, or perhaps, the miraculous spring Bernadette dug up, would aid them in their troubles.

After overwhelming interviews and recounts of her story, the church finally confirmed that the breathtakingly beautiful woman Bernadette saw was the Virgin Mary. After a life-long battle with pneumonia, Bernadette passed away at the age of thirty four. The body of Bernadette remains uncorrupted and lays peacefully in her crystal coffin at the Basilica of Lourdes.

This was by far one of the most challenging books I've read, especially to the many words and phrases in the book which remain in French. Franz Werfel illuminated Bernadette's story in perfect detail, capturing her dauntlessness, humility, and perseverance.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was well written but I found it annoying. The author, while fleeing Nazi Germany, came across the story of Bernadette Soubirous, a girl who had visions of the Virgin Mary. Her faith was so strong that people converted just by being in her presence, she did not preach at all. Bernadette lived from 1844 to 1879, and was actually canonized in 1933. The novel is based on an actual woman, but some of the events, such as the anti-religious prosecutor and some of the people she stayed with, were complete fiction. Her story should have been enough without making things up. But the most annoying thing was that the first chapter of the book was written in present tense. From that point on it is in past tense. Well written but with too many issues for me to recommend it.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not Roman Catholic, but I found this tale of a young girl who saw visions of The Virgin and who had difficulty convincing the adults around her that she was telling the truth very moving. I could identify with the girl's feelings of powerlessness as I was a young teen when I read it. Coulnd't put it down.

Even at 14, I chalked up her experience to religion-induced hysteria, but I still empathized with her inability to get a sincere hearing.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Jewish man on the run from Nazis. He hides in Lourdes France and learns about the Marian apparitions. He promises God that, if he can find safety, he will write a book about Bernadette and the Lady.

This is historical fiction. Inspirational.

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Song Of Bernadette is an extremely straightforward historical fiction surrounding Our Lady Of Lourdes and the life of Bernadette Soubirous, a simple girl in poverty who went out in the woods with her sister one day to collect firewood and happened to see the Virgin Mary in a grotto by the river. From here, the cast of the novel spreads out in all directions religious and political, with thousands flocking to see the girl who stared in holy petrification at empty space. Bernadette is disbelieved by family, ecclesiastics, social leaders, and secular skeptics from across France, but eventually her predictions come true. She is told to drink water from the spring where there is no spring, but within days a spring that never existed has appeared, pumping out hundreds of liters of healing water daily. Eventually miracles begin to occur and Bernadette begins to find herself in danger with the church and the authorities.

This book explores all sorts of religious and atheistic perspectives on the miraculous, along with the practical concerns of simple impoverished people and the highly influential. I found it inspiring that Werfel chose to take the records of miracles at Lourdes seriously within his storytelling while having many characters completely discount the miraculous (and faith traditions in general) on intellectual grounds. He does a great job of displaying how fidelity to one's own experiences can often lead to ostracism, regardless of the religious or miraculous nature of those experiences. For those who are not Catholic and even the materialist, there is something evokative about the human spirit that is compelling here.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Franz Werfel escaped the Nazis by hiding out in Lourdes. Although Jewish, he promised the Virgin Mary that he would write about Lourdes if he escaped to America. The book is a beautiful tribute to Lourdes, full of hope and love. Bernadette Soubirous was a young girl of France who went to collect wood with her sister and friend when she noticed a beautiful lady dressed in white and blue. She came back to this grotto over and over to pray the rosary and seek the lady. The lady asked her to ask the priest for a shrine and a daily procession to the grotto where Bernadette uncovers a healing spring. After a few weeks, Bernadette knew the lady would not be returning and thus begins her battle to have people believe her. Werfel's writing is beautiful and he describes Bernadette as if he knew her personally. A heart-warming book to read.

[Martinez Claudio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un relato novelado preciso de los hechos, un fresco de la sociedad de su tiempo, el racionalismo la burguesía, el cientifismo de las élites nacionales y de la región y frente a ello una cuasi analfabeta campesina, sencilla como una paloma, desconcertante, que ve a la Señora , y que poco a poco va haciendo lo que la señora le indica y acaba poniendo el mundo bocabajo. Y es que la Señora da aus gracias a quien quiere

Franz Werfel es además un gran escritor. Libro mágico, muy bien escrito y fiel a los hechos .Gran descubrimiento.

[Pat Camalliere · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early during WWII the author was fleeing Nazi Germany and spent some time in hiding in Lourdes, the town in which the miracles of Our Lady of Lourdes took place. He vowed to one day tell that story, and this book is the outcome. As a novel it is perhaps a little too documentary to be paced for today’s taste, but as a record of the events it was quite well done, and it will stay with me for a long time. I also looked up the old movie online and watched that, which was quite true to the book and worth watching.

[Eva Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y'all, I realize this is a translation, but this was some of the most gorgeous, sumptuous prose I have ever read. Werfel did not merely write an account of Bernadette's story, marvelous in itself; rather, he wove a holy enchantment over his readers (at least he did over me) as he shared his insight about the meaning of the Immaculate Conception's visits to a simple peasant girl, about the many fantastical miracles at Lourdes, and about the transformation the Lady inspired in so various souls as the aristocratic priest, Abbe Dominique Peyramale, to the free-thinking atheist, Hyacinthe de Lafite. I opened this book hoping to become more familiar with the story of my confirmation saint; I closed it with an intense longing to share Bernadette's mystical love for the Queen of Heaven and to be one of the souls transformed by the beautiful Lady's visits to the humble Grotto of Massabielle.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.

St. Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.