Espace Bernadette Soubirous Nevers is a former convent and the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers in Nevers, France, and is where the body of Saint Bernadette reposes. In 1970, it was converted into a sanctuary run by volunteers and a few sisters who administer to pilgrims and manage the building. [1]
In 1853, Dominique-Augustin Dufêtre, bishop of Nevers, assigned the Church of Saint Lupus and Saint Gildard in Nevers to be rebuilt as a religious house for the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. By that time, not much was left but a rectangular building; the remains of the thirteenth-century building were used to build the Saint Gildard Convent, which was officially consecrated on 15 July 1856. [2] This is the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, where in 1866 Bernadette of Lourdes entered to do her novitiate and where she died in 1879. Her body was buried on the convent grounds, in a special crypt, separate from the graves of the other sisters.
In 1970, the convent was changed into a sanctuary site and now the rooms are used as hotel rooms. The chapel was also significantly transformed, changing from a Tridentine altar into a plain Novus ordo altar, and the tabernacle was also moved to a side altar. Saint Bernadette's body lies to the right of the main altar in a glass reliquary. [3]
The convent was transformed into a sanctuary, which significantly changed the interior setting. The rooms that the Sisters would use were changed into lodging rooms for pilgrims. The cloister, with huge glass windows, overlooks the flowerbeds. Its sunlit corridors lead to lounges, reading rooms, conference rooms and dining rooms. Located in a unique setting in the town centre, Espace Bernadette provides sleeping accommodation for up to 200 people. Bedrooms are located on the first and second floors. The novitiate room was converted into a chapel room. It is here that in July 1866, wearing her Pyrenean costume, Bernadette told the story of the apparitions for the last time to 300 Sisters. The infirmary, where Bernadette died at the age of 35, is now Holy Cross Oratory. During her thirteen years at Saint Gildard, she served as assistant-nurse, head-nurse and sacristan during which time she was often ill. Espace Bernadette also offers multi-purpose rooms with professional equipment for up to 250 people. Additionally, food is served in the dining rooms seven days a week, where up to 200 people can be catered for daily.
In 1958, the Sisters of Charity had a museum built to teach pilgrims about the life of Saint Bernadette, in particular her sufferings. The museum highlights the various steps in Bernadette’s life: the cachot, the grotto, Hospice of Lourdes and her time in Nevers. Some photographs and artefacts depict her daily life.
Bernadette’s body, when exhumed for the process of beatification, was found to be intact, to the surprise of those present.
Since 3 August 1925, following her beatification, Bernadette’s body lies in a glass shrine in the chapel of the convent of Saint- Gildard in Nevers.
Built on the ruins of Saint Gildard’s Abbey, this simple and bright chapel was consecrated in 1856 when the community of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers moved into this new building, and changed its name from Saint Gildard to Bernadette's chapel when the convent was turned into a sanctuary.
The grotto was created in 1884, five years after the death of Bernadette, demanded by Marie Therese Vauzou, the mother superior of the convent who also served as the mistress of novices during Bernadette's novitiate. It was constructed to resemble the grotto in Lourdes, and a piece of rock that the Virgin Mary stood on was taken from the grotto of Massabielle and attached to the replica grotto in Nevers. The grotto also offers candles that can be bought and lit in the grotto which feature a picture of Bernadette on them. [4]
Bernadette Soubirous died on 16 April 1879 and was interred in Saint Joseph's chapel for 40 years. The chapel is located in the middle of the sanctuary gardens, at the end of an avenue lined with beautiful lime trees. The chapel surprisingly contains a Tridentine altar, which contrasts with the significant transformation that took place in the former convent's chapel. A stained flag image of Our Lady of Lourdes shines above the altar. Nearby is also the statue of Our Lady of the Waters. The paths which cross the large gardens lead to this statue in front of which Bernadette chose to pray. She used to say: "It is she who reminds me most of the Lady I saw." [4]
The Song of Bernadette is a 1943 biographical drama film based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Franz Werfel. It stars Jennifer Jones in the title role, which portrays the story of Bernadette Soubirous, who reportedly experienced eighteen visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary from February to July 1858 and was later canonized in 1933. The film was directed by Henry King, from a screenplay written by George Seaton.
Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château fort de Lourdes, a fortified castle that rises up from a rocky escarpment at its center.
Bernadette Soubirous, also known as Saint Bernadette of Lourdes, was the firstborn daughter of a miller from Lourdes, in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France, and is best known for experiencing Marian apparitions of a "young lady" who asked for a chapel to be built at the nearby cave-grotto at Massabielle. These apparitions are said to have occurred between 11 February and 16 July 1858, and the woman who appeared to her identified herself as the "Immaculate Conception."
Frances Xavier Cabrini, also called Mother Cabrini, was an Italian-American Roman Catholic nun. She founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Catholic religious institute that was a major support to her fellow Italian immigrants to the United States. She was the first U.S. citizen to be canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, on July 7, 1946.
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes or the Domain is an area of ground surrounding the Catholic shrine (Grotto) to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, France. The Sanctuary is a destination for pilgrimage; sick pilgrims are reputed to be miraculously healed by Lourdes water. This ground is owned and administered by the Roman Catholic Church, and has several functions, including devotional activities, offices, and accommodation for sick pilgrims and their helpers. The Domain includes the Grotto itself, the nearby taps which dispense the Lourdes water, and the offices of the Lourdes Medical Bureau, as well as several churches and basilicas. It comprises an area of 51 hectares, and includes 22 separate places of worship. There are six official languages of the Sanctuary: French, English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and German.
Carfin Lourdes Grotto, a Roman Catholic shrine in Scotland dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, was created in the early twentieth century. The "Carfin Grotto", as the shrine is locally referred to, was the brainchild of Father, later Canon Thomas N. Taylor, parish priest of St. Francis Xavier's Parish in the small, mining village of Carfin, which lies two miles east of Motherwell, in the West of Scotland. Following a trip to France's principal Marian shrine at Lourdes, Canon Taylor's vision was to build a religious memorial in honour of Our Blessed Lady based on the template of the Grotto of Massabielle. To realize this vision became his life's work. Since its opening in the early 1920s, the "grotto" has attracted pilgrims in the hundreds of thousands and its environs have been modified and enhanced with rich Catholic symbols and buildings. The grotto shrine offers a pilgrimage season with Sunday processions, rosaries, outdoor Masses and dedicated Feast Day events which run annually from early May until late September.
Our Lady of Lourdes is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated in honour of the Marian apparitions that are claimed to have occurred in 1858 in the vicinity of Lourdes in France. The first of these is the apparition of 11 February 1858, when 14-year old Bernadette Soubirous told her mother that a "lady" spoke to her in the cave of Massabielle while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. Similar apparitions of the "Lady" were reported on eighteen occasions that year, until the climax revelation of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception took place.
The Song of Bernadette is a 1941 novel that tells the story of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, who, from February to July 1858 reported eighteen visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France. The novel was written by Franz Werfel and translated into English by Lewis Lewisohn in 1942. It was extremely popular, spending more than a year on the New York Times Best Seller list and 13 weeks in first place.
Miriam Teresa Demjanovich was an American Ruthenian Catholic Sister of Charity who has been beatified by the Catholic Church. The beatification ceremony was the first to take place in the United States.
The Marian Apparitions at Lourdes were reported in 1858 by Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old miller's daughter from the town of Lourdes in southern France.
The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica within the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. Its main theme is a celebration and depiction of the Rosary.
Lourdes water is water which flows from a spring in the Grotto of Massabielle in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, France. The location of the spring was described to Bernadette Soubirous by an apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes on 25 February 1858. Since that time, many thousands of pilgrims to Lourdes have followed the instruction of Our Lady of Lourdes to "drink at the spring and bathe in it". Lourdes water is considered non-liturgical holy water.
Joseph-Hugues Fabisch was a French sculptor. He was professor at the École des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, and official sculptor to the diocese of Lyon.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church is a church located at 13770 Gratiot Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It is commonly known as the Assumption Grotto Church. The church was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1990 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
The Sisters of Charity of Nevers, also known as Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction, is a Catholic convent founded in 1680 in Nevers, Nièvre department, France, at the instigation of Jean-Baptiste Delaveyne. The motherhouse, the former convent at St. Gildard in Nevers, which is now a space for pilgrims to sleep and learn about Bernadette, and is called Espace Bernadette, is built on the ruins of the priory of Saint-Gildard, and was supervised by the bishop of the diocese of Nevers.
Saint Gildard, or Saint Gildardus, is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a priest in the seventh century of Lurcy-le-Bourg, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nevers. His name was in the convent of St. Gildard, which has now become Espace Bernadette, operated by the a small number of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, and the final resting place of St. Bernadette Soubirous
Dom Jean-Baptiste Delaveyne, O.S.B., (1653-1719) was a French Benedictine monk and priest, who founded a religious institute which continues to serve throughout the world.
Studzienka Jankowicka - A sacred place with the altar in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the tomb of Father Valentine, the source of healing water and the hermit’s grotto. It is located in the wood between Marklowice and Jankowice. The history of Studzienka Jankowicka refers to historical events which are based on the folk tales concerning the Hussite wars and the history of Father Valentine killed by the Hussites in 1433.
Marie-Thérèse Vauzou was a French Catholic nun who is known as being the Mistress of Novices and later Mother Superior at the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, during the time that Bernadette Soubirous was alive.
The Shrine of St. Bernadette is a Roman Catholic church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States.