Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular Age

Unlike the standard pious or devotional book on the phenomenon of Lourdes, Ruth Harris approaches her subject not as a devotee or skeptic, but as a historian. With no axe to grind, she (theoretically) can take a dispassionate view of a topic that has claimed the passions of generations of believers and non-believers since 1858, when Bernadette Soubirous reported her visions of the Blessed Virgin. Harris chronicles the visions themselves, of course, but throws her net much wider to help the reader understand their historical and social context. In 1854, Pope Pius IX (whose anti-democratic bent would appall modern American Catholics) promulgated the dogma of the Immaculate Conception - which stated that the Blessed Virgin herself was conceived without the stain of Original Sin. Just four years later, Bernadette's vision revealed its identity in Bernadette's Pyrenean patois: "Y soy Immaculad Conceptua" -- virtually confirming the newly-proclaimed dogma. How this must have gratified the wing of the Church that supported the Pope - and how it must have rankled those who saw Pius IX as a retrograde disaster for the Church! Harris subjects Bernadette herself to close scrutiny, chronicling her family's hardscrabble existence, her father's business incompetence and the family's recent shameful residence in a cold, drafty former prison. Harris presents the Bernadette of history--asthmatic, lice-ridden, desperately poor, barely educated yet devoutly religious--whom the Virgin graced with her visible presence. In detailing Bernadette's stark, grimy reality, Harris allows us to witness the girl's no-nonsense and even gritty brand of holiness. Bernadette's visions are wonderfully detailed. Many will be surprised that Bernadette's vision of a playful 9-year-old differs markedly from the standard image of the Blessed Mother. Harris portrays Bernadette's poignant and fruitless attempts to prevent her countrymen from correcting the apparitions to make them conform to their impression of what the Virgin "really" looked like. It is such delightful glimpses into Bernadette's world that make the book so fascinating. Harris goes well beyond the Lourdes apparitions. She explains why, of all the Lourdes visionaries, only Bernadette's visions are passed along to us. She discusses how Bernadette's post-vision behavior was vital to "selling" the apparitions to the public. Harris discusses the economics and small-time politics of the region, its native patois and the confusing political/religious alliances that sought to use Lourdes to further their own causes. Along the way, Harris spotlights the emerging role of science in the 19th century, and the antipathy with which luminaries of the day (notably Emile Zola) viewed the cures and miracles of Lourdes. The Lourdes phenomenon teaches that holiness cannot be understood apart from the hopes and social circumstances of real life. The apparitions, bound so tightly to the language, dress and prejudices of a particular

The author is to be commended for an intelligent and fair-minded work about the apparations at the Grotto of Lourdes, and the events which took place for the 50 or so years after that event. It's difficult in this extremely secular time to present a cogent history of a time and place where faith and miracles appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary, such as this backward region of France in the mid-nineteenth century. Like most Catholics of my time, I knew some general things about events at Lourdes, but the detail included in this book is astonishing! At times the work is a bit tough going, but it is always interesting and informative. The author maintains a carefully-orchestrated neutrality during the entire course of her book, and that alone is commendable. It's worth reading if for nothing else than to see how entire lives were immersed in religion and belief in the hereafter and the manifestation of God's benevolence towards the world through the intercession of His mother. You don't have to be of any particular religious persuasion to be awed by the simple faith of many of these people, and the trust they had that there were still times when miracles happened. I envy them their belief, and I applaud the author for not condescending to them. She has done a marvelous job!

Ms. Harris tells the story of the wonderous events in the small town of Lourdes, and relates them to the history of France in the second half of the 19th Century. Her approach is to tell the story of the events through the lives of the people involved. To do so she quotes from letters and diaries as well as official records. In order to write in such depth, she must have read everything ever written during this period about Lourdes. Between the Notes and the Bibliography at the end of the book is a three page Dramatis Personae listing all the major people associated with the shrine. Not just for Catholics, the book devotes many pages to the role of women in 19th Century France and will be of great interest to anyone wanting to know about women's rights in France. It is also a "must read" for people interested in French social history. She also looks into the relationaship of anti-Semitism to the Catholic piety of the time. People are never presented two-dimensionally to represent the ideals or concepts they championed. Ms. Harris treats the people she writes about with respect and intelligence. As for Bernadette's vision and the miracles, she tells what is known (and she knows a lot!) and the reactions they caused without taking a stand one way or the other herself. Truly a great work of historical writing.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Bernadette Soubirous, Lourdes, Catholicism and French politics. It is definitely not a "Song of Bernadette" type of book, but,scholarly and, for the most part, a real page turner. It's obvious that a great deal of effort went into it. The bibliography, alone, is mind-boggling! It is not time wasted to read this book.