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Feb 15, 2016 · Franz Werfel. This morning I received more information from our Third Order Prefect, Brother John Marie Vianney, about the Catholic influences that prepared the way for Werfel’s eleventh hour conversion to the Faith and his Baptism. It came by way of a Wikipedia article on the author and playwright.
Feb 23, 2017 · While hiding in the little village of Lourdes, Werfel felt the Nazi noose tightening and, realizing that he and his wife might well be caught and executed, made a promise to God to write about the “song of Bernadette” that he had been inspired by during his clandestine stay in Lourdes.
- The Story of St. Bernadette Is Not Just For Girls
- This Great Saint Was A Product of ‘Poor Catechesis’
- Belief in The Apparitions at Lourdes Are Not An Article of Faith For Catholics
- “The Song of Bernadette”
- Pope Benedict XVI
- Lessons of Humility
- There Is Nothing in The Water
- St. Bernadette Did Not Avail Herself of The Waters at Lourdes
- There Is Independent Medical Evaluation
- You, Too, Can Go to Lourdes
Bernadette is a perennial favorite when young ladies chose their confirmation names. And girls certainly do love watching the film version of “The Song of Bernadette”. (Winner of the very first Golden Globe award for best motion picture, by the way!) I wouldn’t say that watching this movie was the thing that led to my conversion…but it sure didn’t ...
Much is being discussed on Catholic internet sitesregarding the state of modern catechesis and how it should be improved. St. Bernadette could be called a product of poor, minimal catechesis. But Bernadette started her faith life the best way possible – whether for a provincial child of the 1850s or a very modern, prosperous young person. She was t...
The appearance of Our Lady to Bernadette is considered to be private revelation and adds nothing to the public deposit of faith – and so no Catholic is obligated to believe. The millions of believers, Catholic and non-Catholic, who visit Lourdes each year are, though, a testimony to the fact that those who do not believe in Our Lady’s appearance at...
A variety of authors wrote about St. Bernadette and the apparitions at Lourdes. But 20th century cultural popularity of St. Bernadette owes much to “The Song of Bernadette” and the efforts of its author. Franz Werfel, a Jewish German writer found himself in Lourdes while trying to escape to Portugal after France fell to the Nazis. Families who took...
Lourdes has had a special place in the hearts of many popes in the past 156 years. Blessed Pope John Paul II made three pilgrimages to Lourdes. He also proclaimed February 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, as World Day of the Sick. Lourdes and St. Bernadette also figure prominently in the life of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. He was born on St. B...
Those who are looking for lessons in humility – and shouldn’t we all? – can find multiple examples in the story of St. Bernadette. From Bernadette and her humble, devout family, to the Church and civic officials, all the way to her teacher – who learned her lesson rather late – there is great food for contemplation in the stories of those character...
The spring at Lourdes was uncovered by St. Bernadette at the command of Our Lady, who asked her to drink of the as-yet-unseen spring and wash in it. Since then, millions have imbibed and bathed in the water of Lourdes. Early on, some entrepreneurial sorts had hoped to find particular properties in the water which could turn Lourdes into a popular s...
Never in good health, St. Bernadette suffered greatly, and with silent good nature, in the final years of her life. She held fast to Our Lady’s promise that she wasn’t promised “happiness in this world, but in the next.” When she was 22, she joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. She was content to be apart from public life, regarding herself as ...
Pope Saint Pius X established the Lourdes Medical Bureau to investigate cases of medical miracles. This Medical Bureau is a medical institution and not under Church supervision. Over 7,000 people have asked to have their cases declared as miraculous cures, yet fewer than 70 been signed off on by both the Church and the Lourdes Medical Bureau as bei...
If you are suffering or merely curious, a pilgrimage to Lourdes may be just what you are looking for. Volunteers of all sorts, not only medical professionals, are needed to help in a variety of ways, including helping the sick prepare for their opportunity to bathe in the water of Lourdes. A week of time given in love brings its own miraculous gift...
Mar 11, 1990 · Werfel was caught up in the net of pious Catholic rumor and gossip; it was constantly being announced in pulpits and in the popular Catholic press that he had converted; the Bishop of New...
Jun 14, 2021 · The Jew Franz Werfel fulfilled his vow with a literary master piece, affording rare insights into the Catholic Faith. Werfel must have spent his five weeks in Lourdes with intense research into the story of Bernadette.
Jan 1, 2006 · Franz Werfel was born in Prague in 1890 and died in Beverly Hills in 1945, a popular and artistic success in Europe and America. Despite his Jewish birth and upbringing, he was attracted to Christianity at any early age, and although he never formally converted, he celebrated his own vision of it in his entire life's work.
The Song of Bernadette, novel by Czech-born writer Franz Werfel, published in 1941 in German as Das Lied von Bernadette. The book is based on the true story of a peasant girl of Lourdes, France, who had visions of the Virgin Mary.
