Lourdes: The body of Saint Bernadette is still uncorrupted. Today is anniversary of first apparition February 11, 1858 “The face of Saint Bernadette expresses a gentleness and peace that still seem to speak of a celestial vision – Powerful video
Source La Luce di Maria
David and Jordan were the doctors in charge of the first exhumation. They said, “The coffin has been opened. We did not perceive any smell. The body was dressed in the clothes of the order, rather wet. Only the face, hands and part of the forearms were uncovered .
The head was tilted to the left, the face was pale white. The skin was attached to the muscles and the muscles attached to the bones. The eyelids covered the eyes.
The nose was parched and sharp. The mouth, slightly open, showed the teeth. The hands, crossed on the chest and perfectly preserved together with the nails, held a Rosary consumed by the oxide . The relief of the veins could be seen on the forearms. Even the feet, like the hands, had totally preserved the nails.
After having removed the dress and the veil from her head , the whole body was seen wrapped, rigid and sonorous in all its parts. It was found that the short hair was still attached to the skull and joined to the scalp, that the ears were in perfect condition and that the left side of the body, from the sides, was higher than the right one. The lower parts of the body were a little darkened. It seems due to carbon, found in large quantities in the coffin. “
Lourdes: the Novena and the World Day of the Sick
The face of Saint Bernadette expresses a gentleness and peace that still seem to speak of a celestial vision and, from 3 August 1925, it can be contemplated through the glass sarcophagus of the chapel of the Convent of Saint Gildard in Nevers (34, rue Saint -Gildard – 58000, to be precise), 700 kilometers from Lourdes .
The Novena dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes is recited from 2 to 10 February and leads us to the celebration of 11 February (the day of the first apparition of the Madonna to Bernadette), which Pope John Paul II wanted to enrich with the institution of the World Day of the Sick .
Antonella Sanicanti
