Bernadette Soubirous Poem by Saiom Shriver

Note: One of the most beautiful movies ever filmed was The Song Of Bernadette, (1943) , based on the novel of that title by the Jewish poet Franz Werfel,13 of whose poems are at a link below. It is the story of the beginning of the shrine of Lourdes in France. Werfel's novel was on the NY Times bestseller list for over a year before George Seaton wrote the screenplay for the movie.


Because of the close link between the French monarchy and the Catholic church, French revolutionaries were anti-clerical. When Bernadette, a French peasant girl, began reporting her visions of Mary, the mother of Jesus, she was ridiculed, threatened with jail, persecuted, by the atheist imperial prosecutor. A psychiatrist the prosecutor called in defined her as mad. But the site at which she dug dirt in obedience to her vision burst forth with a spring to which many miracles are attributed. The prosecutor continued his attack, citing an 18th century law to cut off access to the spring water at Lourdes. But he and the French Catholic hierarchy called off their opposition to Bernadette when Napoleon III, the emperor of France, ordered the spring opened to the public. Physicians began to record some of the miracles. Someone without a nose found it had grown back instantly. A boy with atrophied legs suddenly had strong muscular legs.

The movie's bishop proclaims that miracles should be sudden like lightning bolts.* **Miracles come to those of all paths.*

It is sad to see Bernadette who wanted to marry a particular man...bullied into joining the convent by her priest confessor.

The actor Vincent Price plays the imperial prosecutor whileJennifer Jones transcends Hollywood glamor in her role as the simple, loving, truthtelling Bernadette. Lee J Cobb is a physician who begins to document miracles. Charles Bickford plays the initially skeptical priest.

13 poems of Franz Werfel

http: //www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/franz_werfel_2012_6.pdf

Franz Werfel's book in German is Das Lied von Bernadette.

Others of his books are

the Forty Days Of Musa Dagh, Class Reunion, Between Heaven And Earth, Poems, Pale Blue Ink In A Lady's Hand, Celia.

***Miracles and healing come to those of all paths through Native American shamans, practitioners of all faiths, agnostics and atheists.

Millions have come for healing to Sathya Sai Baba. On one particular day,2.3 million people came. Of healing, Baba said 'One third I heal immediately. One third I heal slowly which is best. One third I do not yet heal, because their hearts have not yet learned the lesson of their suffering.'


http: //www.bernadette-of-lourdes.co.uk/images/book_cover.jpg