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A Holy Life: The Writings of St. Bernadette of Lourdes

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In developing my own book on the famous apparitions at Massabielle (Lourdes: Font of Faith, Hope, & Charity, Paulist Press, Sept. 2007), I researched a great number of titles. None of them, however, gave me better insight into the real person of Bernadette Soubirous than A Holy Life. Thanks to Patricia McEachern's careful translation, English-speaking readers can appreciate the oftentimes difficult journey to sainthood through Bernadette's candid letters and journal entries as she lived out her sanctity in the motherhouse at Nevers. A true treasure -- it was like meeting the visionary in person!

This book is a wonderful resource for all who want to know Bernadette better. From her writtings one can see the depth of her faith. She saw all that occurred in her life as the will of GOD and she accepted everything that came her way. One learns that Bernadette carried her cross in life with acceptance and love. She suffered greatly and wanted to unite her suffering with Jesus' for the sake of all sinners.

In the initial account of the apparitions Dr. McEachern uses the method of drawing lines from various different accounts given by the Saint over several different years in order to present one comprehensive report. If you accept this methodology as valid, you will draw much from this book. I felt a bit uncomfortable realizing I was reading a mosaic of shards shattered and shorn from so many different sources and presented as her complete account, but perhaps such textual criticism does not present a problem to other readers. I would prefer to read the accounts in their entirety, including to the various ecclesial and legal authorities who questioned her, in chronological order, and piece together a conclusive report from that entirety. Here this work has been done for us, leaving only the golden threads from among the whole cloth. I would hope one day to see the fullest tapestry.

After that opening, the compiler of this volume does leave us a fairly representative collection of the Saint's letters, translated. Again I hope one day to see them in the original, including the regional dialect, and in chronological order, as here we find the intriguing and often difficult and treacherous work of translation done for us.

I also found the opening introduction touched by a persistent trait of other reports on this Saint, the disparagement of her family and conditions and education and mind, rather than a charitable embracing and comprehension. I am always uncomfortable to read such judgmental emphasis, yet here find it more balanced and contextualized than in earlier standard texts. The Saint herself suffered this from the first moments she reported the Visions, and for the rest of her life on earth, and accepted this suffering, for reasons she examines in this book, including unmentioned yet infinitely consoling comments by Our Lady herself, who was of similar age and education and conditions. I am not so holy and so feel deeply uncomfortable for the Saint suffering such mistreatment both during and after life, but I must resolve to convert by her very wise and holy and compassionate example, and by her own exhortations shared here in her own, translated hand.

A necessary addition to any Catholic spiritual library, and probably the best we can get for this Saint.

An enlightening story about the humble, poor little shepherd girl who encountered the Mother of God and the tremendous impact it had on her life. Details and insights that kept me excitedly turning those pages.

As the translator of Saint Bernadette's writings, I would like to make what I consider to be an important correction. The "beautiful maiden" whom Bernadette saw said to her that she did not promise to make Bernadette "happy is this world, but in the OTHER (l'autre)." (Our Lady did not say "the next.") The word is correctly translated in the second half of the book.

The difference between "the other" and "the next" is enormous. On those rare occasions when a heavenly being speaks to a human, the words appear deceptively simple. "To those who have ears, let them hear." Was Our Lady giving Saint Bernadette a double message? Perhaps Bernadette could be happy on this earth in her spiritual life in spite of a difficult physical existence. The second part of the message remains as it has always been understood: Saint Bernadette would be happy in Heaven.

One reviewer bemoaned what he interpreted as "the disparagement of her family and conditions and education and mind, rather than a charitable embracing and comprehension." He wrote that he is "always uncomfortable to read such judgmental emphasis." Alas. Actually, I do comprehend Saint Bernadette's upbringing. Indeed, I love her all the more dearly because of it.

The truth is sometimes unpleasant. Saint Bernadette was always truthful, and she deserves to have her life described truthfully. Her honesty draws me close to her. My beloved Saint Bernadette's living conditions were actually worse than I could bring myself to describe, not because I "judged" her, but out of a sense of protection. Perhaps I feared that others would judge her harshly and unfairly? Perhaps I feared that some readers would romanticize or sentimentalize the circumstances into which she was born? People do that. The fact that Bernadette rose above her tragic circumstances raises her to great heights in my estimation. She was, and is, extraordinary! There is no shame in poverty. There is no shame in being a child born into circumstances one cannot control. What one DOES with those circumstances is everything.

To have glossed over the circumstances of my dearest Saint Bernadette's upbringing would have been to have cheated her. That tiny little child rose like a phoenix out of ashes.

This is an excellent presentation of the available records by Bernadette hertself. In this book, the historical accounts of Bernadette's visions are collated into seamless narratives from various records she made, but these sources are clearly footnoted. For anyone interested in Bernadette of Lourdes or who wonders about her integrity or spirituality, this is an excellent book to read--as much of it is in her own modest words. I have read Werfels' superb 'Song of Bernadette', Ruth Harris's detached socio-cultural study of Lourdes, and Laurentin's well organised and illustrated account, but this book is refreshing as it supplements those books with a direct insight into Bernadette. In this way, the reader can make their own assessment of what she was like. For me, the clarity of her spiritual vision of life seems compelling. I recommend this book to all who are interested in the Lourdes apparitions. And of course above all these considerations is the opportunity to ponder whether the arraritionsd of the Virgin Mary are genuine intrusions into our modern world and, if so, what they (and the choice of a simple but genuine girl as their recipient) might mean for us today.

The book came to me at time when I needed to be assured there was still holiness to be found. The book is a must for any serious Christian. This is the real Bernadette. This is one of the best yet to be found from the writings of holy woman.