Reading through some of the letters of S. Bernadette Soubirous this morning I was reminded of just how little I know of the faith. It wasn't some great theological truth that I'd missed but rather one of those small details of our common story as Catholics that I'd either never known about or perhaps forgotten over the years. S. Bernadette mentions to one correspondent about three secrets that Our Lady gave here during the initial fortnight of visions at the grotto. Now I knew about the three secrets of Fatima (let's not go there) but I seem to have missed this part of the Lourdes story despite multiple viewings over the years of
Song of Bernadette. Anyhow a quick Google search and, yes, it was confirmed. This was part of the story that I should have known about. Apparently the three secrets were personal, pertaining to the Saint herself. According to one source she was even bound not to reveal them to her confessor.
But I still wonder what they were?
I worked for several years for the Pelerin d’un Jour in Lourdes during my summer vacations. I was totally unaware that Bernadette had been given personal secrets. I join you with how little I know of our Faith!
ReplyDeleteIf they pertained to St. Bernadette, who is now dead and in Heaven, does it really matter?
ReplyDeleteHow about this?
ReplyDelete1. Lourdes will become a major place of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, visited by millions of pilgrims each year and even by the Holy Father himself.
2. Bernadette will enter a convent and die young, but she will be canonized as a saint of the Church.
3. As proof of the authenticity of Bernadette’s apparitions and of her sanctity, Bernadette’s body will be preserved in a miraculous state of incorruption after her death.
How about: you will become ill but will not be healed.
ReplyDeleteThis is what Wikipedia has to say about St Bernadette's incorruptibility: Since her death, Bernadette's body has apparently remained internally incorrupt, but her body is not without blemish; during her third exhumation in 1925, the firm of Pierre Imans made light wax coverings for her face and her hands due to the discoloration that her skin has undergone. These masks were placed on her face and hands before she was moved to her crystal reliquary in June of 1925. [3][4]