The Song of Bernadette (Religious Miracle Fiction Series) [Paperback]

Franz Werfel (Author)

Book Description

Series: Religious Miracle Fiction Series | Publication Date: August 15, 1989

An epic in novel form telling of the miraculous visions of a poor French girl at Lourdes.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

From AudioFile

Werfel, an Austrian Jew, wrote this historical novel about a Catholic saint to commemorate his narrow escape from the Nazis via Lourdes. It recounts events surrounding the 1858 visions there of the Holy Virgin encountered by the asthmatic 14-year-old named in the title. It is a sincere but worldly book that Johanna Ward reads with equal respect to subject and writer. Thankfully, she plays down the sentiment that alternately blesses and curses Werfel's writing and gives us strong characterizations. Her performance is marred by the limited range of cadences she brings to the narrative. One also hears evidence that editing has eliminated pauses that would have added interest and expressiveness. Nonetheless, the tape is well worth the listen. Y.R. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (August 15, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312034296
• ISBN-13: 978-0312034290
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #813,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most inspired and inspiring tales ever, April 9, 2000

By 

Audun Myskja - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Song of Bernadette (Religious Miracle Fiction Series) (Paperback)

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.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Franz Werfel's Reflections on Two Moments of Grace, May 5, 2002

By 

Deborah Earle (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Song of Bernadette (Religious Miracle Fiction Series) (Paperback)

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.

45 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I recommend this book to *you.*, August 18, 2004

By 

Danusha Goska (Bloomington, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Song of Bernadette (Religious Miracle Fiction Series) (Paperback)

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."