In the footsteps of Bernadette

(Part 1)

If you want more than the Eiffel Tower, French food, French wine and the Louvre Museum you must go to the countryside where the French are less arrogant, more patient warm and helpful. Visit the mountain region of the Pyrenees, for instance. At the foot of this popular ski and nature tourist site is the simple and quiet town of Lourdes. Last Sunday, Feb. 11 was the 160th anniversary of the apparition of our Lady to St. Bernadette Soubirous.

The town still reflects the simple life of the young saint with the numerous small hotels, small roads lined with stores, simple cafes, brasseries, several museums and landmarks concerning the life of the saintly maiden. The pilgrimage season is spring and summer, unlike autumn when few visitors arrive.

The interior adventure in the little town of Lourdes

Lourdes is an encounter with simplicity, courtesy and kindness. When you arrive in Lourdes, whether it is for a few hours or a few days, as a visitor or as a pilgrim, you want to see everything, to “discover” everything. This was exactly how Max my husband and I felt as soon as we stepped out of the small Lourdes train station with our overnight roller bag. But, making just a one-day or overnight trip, I realized, prevents one from enjoying a full spiritual fervor. It is Max’s first pilgrimage and my third since I was a young Montessori teacher trainee in 1964 taking a summer course in Alliance Francaise in Paris and 20 years later during my stint in the UNESCO Executive Board in Paris.

To walk in the footsteps of Bernadette is like a pilgrimage within a pilgrimage. It is more than a tourist walk or an exercise of memorizing dates and places and the names of all the people who entered into the life of Bernadette. It is really an interior adventure that we are fortunate to experience.

Orientation

The first few hours is orientation time. Stepping out of the Gare train station, we asked a taxi driver to take us to Ibis Hotel where we were booked earlier. He was honest and reminded me, “Madame, it is only a five-minute drive down this road. But if you like, I could drive you for 40 Francs.” Hungry now, we let him take us. True enough, we stopped at the small hotel two kilometers away.

Our hotel is typical of the many small hotels of Lourdes lining the little road one after the other and charging less than $100 a day. Fortunately, Hotel Ibis is on the main road of Avenue Baron Maransin where the two roads Boulevard de la Grotte and Rue de la Grotte cross the Gave River leading to the huge basilica and sanctuary gardens. I asked for a map to check where the Lourdes sanctuary is. Everything is within walking distance and the cool mountain air is invigorating. Be sure you have a coat or jacket and comfortable walking shoes.

Left of the Basilica is the Information Forum within a cluster of buildings, where all information are available, including a 15-minute film and picture book of St. Bernadette’s life, schedule of masses, visit to the healing bathhouse. If only a one-day visit is possible, go straight to the right side of the basilica and pray to the most sacred spot – the Grotto Massabielle. Then next door, line up with the pilgrims at the barracks-style healing bathhouse.

Drink of the spring and wash yourself there

Masses are often said in the Lourdes Grotto by visiting the priests. A place of silence, it is surrounded by benches which are always filled with pilgrims from all over the world. At the back of the Grotto to the left of the altar, one can see the flowing spring that Bernadette discovered, covered by a clear glass and brightly illuminated. This water, in order to make it available to everyone, is now channeled toward the taps and the baths.

Be sure to buy plastic holy water containers and aluminum cups in numerous shops along Boulevard de la Grotte, the street before the basilica grounds. These water containers come in various sizes and shaped like the Lady of Lourdes. There are no stores inside the sacred ground. After the grotto are the stands for vigil candles. The special Lourdes candles are available from open candle racks before the Grotto. Two feet long, they vary in height and weight. Gigantic candles weighing 30 kilos are brought by large groups of pilgrims. By lighting a candle, the pilgrim does the same as Bernadette, who prayed at the Grotto with a lighted candle. Leaving the candle behind prolongs our prayers.

Reliving Bernadette’s life

To follow the footsteps of Bernadette and to understand the depth of the message given by Our Lady to the little Bernadette Soubirous is the meaning of this pilgrimage that we will undertake together. Of course, as in all walks there are stages, stops and times to reflect. This walk is made up of five stages: The Boly Mill, the Chachot, the Parish Church, the Old Presbytery and the Hospice. At each stage we will try to discover, through the simple journey of Bernadette, what the Lord says to this Church and to each of us.

Before “setting out,” here are some information that could be helpful: 1) Consider the time necessary to follow the Footsteps of Bernadette – in general, you should allow a good two hours. 2) Take into consideration the age and mobility of those with you.

The life of St. Bernadette Soubirous and the 18 apparitions Our Lady made in 1858 between February and July, fill up the major part of this Marian devotion of Catholics. Her story has been lovingly pictured in the film The Song of Bernadette with Jennifer Jones as the saint. The apparition site is in front of the surging Gave River and the town canal. In 1858 Bernadette, Toinette, her sister and Jeanne a friend tried to wade across the river then just a rivulet.

The Grotto Rock of Massabielle

The Grotto where Mother Mary appeared was a dirty, hidden, damp and cold place. It was called ”pig shelter” because that was where the pigs feeding in the area usually took shelter. It was there that the Virgin Mary appeared in white, a sign of total purity.

The contrast between this damp and obscure Grotto and the presence of the Virgin Mary, “the Immaculate Conception” reminds us of the Gospel: the meeting of the wealth of the goodness of God and the poverty of the human person. This place called Massabielle, the Old Rock, tells us that God comes to join us where we are, in the midst of our poverty and failures.

(Part II – “The Lourdes Shrine Compared to the Trinity of Shrines from Negros to Mt. Pinatubo”)