“There is something beautiful in keeping this presence of Bernadette here in Burgundy”, confided Bishop Antoine Hérouard this Monday, February 21, he who was apostolic delegate for the sanctuary of Lourdes.
The new archbishop of Dijon Antoine Hérouard has forged special ties with Saint Bernadette since, in 2019, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic delegate for the sanctuary of Lourdes.
For three years, he went very regularly to Lourdes, no longer as beneficiary but as bishop in office.
This Monday, February 21, 2022, a few days before the start of his ministry in the Diocese of Dijon, Archbishop Antoine Hérouard testifies to this experience.
Bernadette Soubirous, born in 1844, joined the Saint-Gildard convent in Nevers in 1866 and died there in 1879. She was canonized in 1933. Her body still rests in a glass and bronze shrine in the Saint Bernadette Soubirous Sanctuary in Nevers .
“Why is Bernadette the beneficiary of these apparitions?”
“I discovered Lourdes from the inside by seeing the diversity of the people who came to Lourdes on pilgrimage, the presence of the sick, the presence of the little ones, the poor, the modest people, the expression of popular piety, there there are things that touched me a lot and that also called me to say to myself ‘how do we announce the Gospel to people who sometimes have practices that may seem a little superstition, which are not not necessarily the ones we usually develop?’”
“There is a deep and simple faith in the people who come to Lourdes, it allowed me to better discover the person of Bernadette. Bernadette is a young woman to whom the Virgin therefore appeared. The question we can ask ourselves is ‘why was Bernadette the beneficiary of these apparitions?’ Because she was from a rather poor family – in any case ruined – she had little education, she had no social codes, she was a bit marginal in her environment and, at the same time, she had a deep desire to make his first communion at the time and a very deep faith.”
“What appears in Bernadette’s personality is a great simplicity, a great humility (…) but, at the same time, a great tenacity, because she will immediately experience opposition, ridicule, teasing.”
“It’s not always easy to be a Christian today, but there is a testimony to bear”
“Its axis is to say ‘I was not instructed to make you believe it, I was instructed to tell you so’. She transmits her testimony and this testimony finds its way, more or less well, into the hearts and lives of others. This double aspect of great simplicity-humility and then tenacity is something that can enlighten our position today. It’s not always easy to be a Christian today, in a world that is no longer so, but there is a witness to bear. This testimony is not about proving things by A+B but rather about showing how faith will change the lives of those who embrace it.”
“This is what Bernadette calls us to and she herself has lived in difficulty. She had both this very strong attachment to the Virgin Mary and this attachment also to the place where things happened, to the grotto of Massabielle. Finally, entering religious life and then she understood very quickly that she could not stay there and that she was going to have to live the rest of her life elsewhere. That’s how she’s going to go to Nevers. For her, it is also heartbreaking because she understands very well that she will never see Lourdes and the grotto again.
“I was in Lourdes on February 18 for the feast of Saint Bernadette and people told me ‘you are going to follow Bernadette’s path, you are going to Burgundy’. It’s not in the same conditions or in the same situation, but I think there’s something beautiful in keeping Bernadette’s presence here in Burgundy, knowing what I’ve experienced, discovered and shared in over these three years.”
Interview by Jean-Christophe Tardivon
“The Christian faith also remains an important component of French culture and society,” says the new Archbishop of Dijon Antoine Hérouard
The shrine of Saint Bernadette in Nevers (JC Tardivon archive image)
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