A Pilgrimage to Nevers

St Bernadette's shrine, in the convent chapel
(no photos of the saint are allowed)

You are going to Nevers?  Pour-quoi?

Apparently that’s what my sister’s colleagues said when she told them that we are going to Nevers.  I suppose that these days, the French are not that religious and so they do not know that St Bernadette's intact body rests in a quiet convent chapel in this small town.

My mother and I had made a pilgrimage to Lourdes previously, where we saw the grotto where the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin appeared to Bernadette, and various places associated with the Saint's life.  (The entire series of posts can be found here).

So this time round, visiting the shrine of St Bernadette was definitely going to be a stop on our mini-pilgrimage.  Bernadette's body rests at the convent of St Gildard, where she first entered as a postulant to join the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. The Sisters had had a small  school in Lourdes, and had taken in Bernadette as a pupil, so when she entered religious life it was a natural choice for her.  The convent of St Gildard was where she spent the rest of her brief life, dying as she sat in a chair in the infirmary.  Today, the convent has become a place of pilgrimage and retreat centre, called Espace Bernadette.  We walked through the quiet grounds, visited the little museum on the life of the saint, and went for mass in the chapel where we also prayed by the body of St Bernadette.  A replica of the grotto at Massabielle is beside the chapel, but it was so hot that we didn't linger there.

Inside the Chapelle of St Joseph

Nevers itself is about two hours from Paris, so we got there around 11am+, just in time for mass (in French).  It was on 25th May (so you know how late this post is), so we celebrated the feast of St Philip Neri.  There was a small group of schoolchildren and they were the special guests sitting next to the altar.  Later on, we saw them exploring the grounds, worksheet in hand, looking for the answers to their assignment.

The convent itself is surrounded by its grounds - gentle meadows and gardens.  There is also the little Chapelle of St Joseph was where St Bernadette was originally laid to rest. She was exhumed for inspection in 1909, 1919 and 1925.  Each time, it was found to be intact even though the skin has darkened over time (it is covered with a wax mask).  There is in fact a detailed write-up about the condition of the body, including the organs (the liver was found to be still soft).  After the last inspection, the body was placed in the shrine in the chapel. And, of course, Bernadette was canonised as a saint!

Our Lady of the Waters

Coming here, it is easy to picture Bernadette walking down the garden paths, going all the way from the big convent building to the shady and peaceful corner where stands Our Lady of the Waters.  It was a favourite spot of Bernadette's as it was this particular image of Our Lady which reminded her of the One she met.  

We also visited the museum, which features some of Bernadette's belongings - the clothes in which she came to the convent, the apothecary scales which she used to weigh medicine (she worked in the infirmary) and the chair she died in.  There are also a few of her writings featured.  

According to the tourist sites such as this one, there are other things to see in Nevers such as the cathedral, a former ducal palace and a ceramic museum.  But we didn't really have time for a visit.  By the time we finished visiting the convent (taking into account our break for lunch after mass) it was late afternoon and we had to catch our train back to Paris.  So we walked through the old town, past a large park full of children practicing their roller-blading, and past the old town walls.  Then we wandered back to the train station and took our two hour train journey back to Paris.

A tiring day but one, according to my Mum, which helped her check off one more thing off her Catholic Bucket List.

More photos here.

The old town wall and cathedral beyond