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Song of Bernadette

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Franz Werfels in-depth account of one of the strangest tales in modern history, the apparitions of a lady to the asthmatic illiterate 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, raised in poverty. She believed in her visions, which included digging forth, at the lady`s command, a source from the ground by the local garbage dump, that has since become one of the most famous sites of pilgrimages in the world. Several hundred miraculous healings have happened at the source, which annually attracts 5 million pilgrims and patients seeking redemption, growth or physical healing.

New age literature abounds with phrases as "will change your life"; mainly hyperbole. Franz Werfel`s book is one of the few true life-changers I`ve read, if one can allow its message to sink in. Written over half a century ago, it does not seem dated in any way. Its message is even less dated, rather more urgent. Its message is one of faith, hope and love, the will to act upon what has truly touched the heart, and stay faithful to one`s truth. Thank you, Franz Werfel. Thank you, Bernadette.

The Jewish author Franz Werfel wrote this novel after stopping at Lourdes on his way out of Nazi-occupied Europe. Impressed by what he observed at the famous shrine, he vowed that if he ever reached "the saving shores of America", he would do his best to "sing the song of Bernadette". As his wish was granted, his vow was honored. Interestingly, during the course of the novel, published at a time of extreme religious intolerance in Europe, we learn that Protestants as well as Jews also make pilgrimages to Lourdes.
The story is about the life of Bernadette Soubirous, an asthmatic fourteen-year-old peasant girl whose family have fallen on hard times. Noteworthy is the fact that Bernadette's mother, Louise, had a gift for healing the sick as other women of the Saint's matrilineal line.
The first apparition takes place on February 11, 1858 after her father has a lamentable day doing menial labor, and she, her sister, Marie, and friend, Jeanne Abadie are sent to collect firewood for their home. The ailing Bernadette stays on one side of the freezing pond water to prevent her asthma from becoming worse while the other go ahead, and in a frightening, tense moment, she is greeted by a pixie-like lady with a white veil,a white gown, dark hair, blue eyes, and a blue sash with a gold rose on each foot who smiles consistently.
In the days and weeks that follow, Bernadette's friends and foes align themselves either in her favor or against her. But miracles in the grotto take place when a blinded stonecutter and an ailing infant are among the first to be healed by water from the spring that the Lady told Bernadette to dig. However, moments of vindication for Bernadette come slowly. Eventually, she even wins the approval of the Empress Eugenie, who dispatches her son's governess to get some of the water to help heal him.
With the words "I am the Immaculate Conception", the Apparition of 1858 also answered the issue about how the Mother of Christ had to be conceived without sin at a time when the Catholic Church had begun to discuss that topic at length.
The Lady promises Bernadette that she will not be granted happiness in this life, but only in the next. Indeed, the story follows Bernadette through the 13 years she spent in the Convent of Nevers (where her incorrupt remains are on display to this day), being tormented by a jealous nun, and helping to nurse soldiers during the Franco-Prussian War. The ailing soldiers called for her more than any other nurse.
After dealing with many ailments and tragedies(her mother died shortly after she entered the convent in 1866), Bernadette, who never loses her sense of humour through it all, dies of tuberculosis at the age of 35 in 1879. She was canonized in 1933 and is one of the favorite modern Saints of the Catholic Church.
When Franz Werfel's own story becomes intertwined with Bernadette's, we realize that we are presented with two stories about moments of grace; that of a humble peasant girl's priviledge of seeing the Mother of God face to face, and of a non-Christian's finding solace in the Visionary's native village, and ultimately escaping his persecutors.
Werfel, in fulfillment of his vow to write about the young Seeress if his own mortal life was saved from the Nazis, has done Bernadette great justice, exposing more people to her life story in an entertaining and engaging way.

My title of this review, "I recommend this book to *you*" may seem rather bold; after all, I don't know who may or may not come along and read this review.

But I stand by that title. 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."

Catholic or not, you may be amazed at this story of the eccentric teenage girl who unwittingly initiates a spiritual movement. She's only doing what her vision of "the Lady" tells her to do, from eating dirt to putting her face into thorns.
It is a difficult but well-crafted novel. I read the Ludwig Lewisohn translation from the original (there may be others).

While Bernadette and her family suffer harrassment from the authorities, they are supported by the people of the community, who wish so badly to believe in a miracle. I enjoyed the scene where, secretly and after dark, the workmen construct a basin to contain the trickle of water discovered by Bernadette. It miraculously is a flowing spring!

I also like the image of the crowds mimicking Bernadette's every movement as she follows "the Lady's" sometimes irrational instructions each morning. The people so desire to believe that Bernadette's actions have meaning, when the reader suspects that it is all just product of mental illness. Good historical reading.

I am almost finished listening to the Audible format of this book, and am transported by its graceful and profound simplicity. The narrator is excellent, skillfully taking on the roles of her narrated characters. Her characterization of Bernadette is one of innocence and wide-eyed truthfulness, but she is just as equal to giving hard crustiness and slimy hypocrisy to Bernadettes detractors. To Catholics, this book will be an inspiration. And to those who have been or are planning to visit Lourdes, it will explain the very un-subtle commercial atmosphere of the town, so unlike Bernadette would have wished.

At first this book annoyed me. The reason was that, being cast in the form of a novel, the author has been obliged to invent conversations, thoughts, motives, situations, and details of personality.

Furthermore, he has probably introduced a fictitious minor character now and then. Specifically, he has cast Sister Vauzous, who was Bernadette's novice master when she later entered the convent at Nevers, as her unsympathetic school teacher in Lourdes.

Several scenes are set in the schoolroom, yet I suspect Bernadette never went to school. The only language she spoke before entering the convent was Gascon, and visitors from Paris who wished to interview her needed an interpreter. Had she gone to school, she would have been able to speak at least a modicum of French.

In spite of these initial misgivings, the sweep of the story and the vividness of the writing eventually drew me in, and I frequently found myself very moved by it. The story of the apparitions and of the stir they created locally and nationally is convincingly told, and the simplicity of Bernadette's character is beautifully presented. Furthermore, it is astonishing that the author, who was not a Catholic or even a Christian, has been able to enter so successfully both the spiritual and political worlds of Catholicism.

I recommend the book highly. Catholic readers will find their faith deepened by it, but others will still find it a compelling story well told.

It doesn't matter whether or not you believe the Virgin Mary really appeared to the 14 year old Basque peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. Franz Wertel has created a wonderfully atmospheric biographical novel that captures the spirit and ambiance of Lourdes and the hard realities of peasant life with perfection. The jealousies, spites, and kindnesses of mankind anywhere are distilled here along with the calm wake of Bernadette herself, especially impressive as contrasted with the somewhat hysterical affect Bernadette's visions had on people from the Emperor Napoleon, the clergy, and the intellectual elite down to the lowliest souls.

Bernadette saw, she believed and she created an avalanche all by herself. Faith can move mountains. Against all odds, this unlettered peasant girl made Lourdes the greatest shrine in Christendom outside the Vatican. The spirit is greater than the human condition. That is what Franz Werfel is telling us and showing us via this beautiful novel.

Franz Werfel- sophisticated, educated and a Jew- seems to have an almost mythical relationship with Bernadette. You feel he understands her, believes in her, supports her and most of all, understands her rather elusive personality.Werfel is about as far from Bernadette as you can get, seemingly. But they are spiritually in rapport even though living a century apart.

Werfel, born in Prague, was living in Austria when the Germans overran that country in 1938. He and his wife escaped to France, in Lourdes, where Werfel found spiritual solace at the shrine of our Lady. When the Nazis occupied France and started deporting German Jews to concentration camps, Werfel vowed that if he escaped he would write the story of Bernadette. Escape he did, to California, and write he did, this splendid novel you hold in your hands.

This is the story from which the motion picture is based. Franz Werfel's writing brings Bernadette's story to life. I owned the book for quite a while before reading it...I assumed that it was written by a Catholic who would paint a glowing and sentimental picture of this poor French girl. But Werfel is Jewish and wrote the book in gratitude to God for his escape from the Nazi's. He carefully researched the events of her life and wrote a lucid and insightful account without sentimentality. Although I saw the movie the book is full of details which make this biography shine.

This book should be THE standard for religious fiction. Rarely have I read a book in which the subject is so excellently handled. The story is interesting and very moving, without being melodramatic. It begins with Bernadette in a sort of wide focus. The narrator does not make the claim that Bernadette's visions are authentic,but rather allows the story itself to slowly show the truth of the situation. As the plot progresses, the focus narrows, and we see just who and what Bernadette really is. By the end of the book, we, the reader are convinced (without being forced) that Bernadette is an authentic visionary of the Blessed Virgin. This is probably the finest novel that I have ever read, and I am a prolific and avid reader. One caveat- the historical details in this book are not 100% accurate. If one wants to find a more historically accurate account of Saint Bernadette, read Bernadette Speaks, which is also a brilliant book.

I'm not sure I can add much to what other reviewers here have said except to say that I love this book. It is inspiring, moving, shrewd and insightful. It explores the worldly surounds of the events themselves and yet the character of Bernadette only shines out with greater simplicity. Further, I found it difficult to detach Bernadette in my mind from the mother of God, who became the focus of Bernadette's life. Bernadette's honesty and capacity for enduring suffering comes through this book with authenticity. I have read historical studies of Bernadette and Lourdes by Laurentin and Ruth Harris. They only highlight how faithful is Franz Werfel to the sources and how well he has discerned his characters. Perhaps Werfel's own sufferings as a refugee in Nazi occupied Europe gave him insights into the transformation of Bernadette in her encounters with the Mother of God. Frankly this has been one of the most powerful books I have ever read--my copy is old and battered but highly valued.