An association led by a local politician in Lourdes has begun a campaign to have the body of St Bernadette Soubirous returned from the convent where she died in Burgundy to the south western French town where she reported seeing visions of Mary in 1858.
The group, which has the support of several of the saint's family's descendants, says the number of Sisters of Charity of Nevers at the convent is dwindling and soon only lay people would run the chapel where her body is laid out in a glass coffin.
The Lourdes official, José Marthe, says it is time to bring the body back to the pilgrimage town, one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world with several million pilgrims per year.
In Nevers, where three sisters maintain Bernadette’s chapel and about 170,000 pilgrims visit every year, the convent and local officials oppose the idea. The sanctuary at Lourdes says Bernadette made it clear she did not want to return to Lourdes after leaving in 1866 because she was attracting too much attention from pilgrims and the media. She died in Nevers in 1879.
“In 1957, Pope Pius XII definitively confirmed the church position by confirming Bernadette should remain in Nevers,” the convent said in a statement.
Mr Marthe plans to continue his campaign, saying there was no written proof of the saint’s wishes. “We don’t know if it will take six months or six years, but Bernadette will return,” he said.
Above: pilgrims visit the grotto at the shrine at Lourdes. Photo: CNS
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