The Song of Bernadette Page #12

What I have to say

is just as important for your soul.

- We will speak in your cell.

- Yes, Sister.

Excuse me, Mother Superior.

Sit down, Marie Bernarde.

I've been wanting

to talk to you for a long time.

Why do you limp?

Oh, it's nothing, Sister.

Limping gains sympathy

from the other Sisters. Is that it?

But I never...

You forget, I've known you

for many years.

In the outside world,

you were celebrated.

From all over France,

people came just to gaze upon you.

Here, you are a nonentity.

- You find that difficult, don't you?

- Oh, no.

The temptation to cling to your eminence

is undoubtedly too strong for you.

Truly, Sister...

...never have I said or done anything

to attract attention.

I wish only to be one of

the Sisters here, nothing more.

Ten years ago I was forced to doubt you.

I have not changed.

I have never told you an untruth.

I have tried to believe you.

Only God knows how hard I've tried...

...but I cannot.

What is it you don't believe?

What everyone else is willing to believe.

The lady?

I did see her. I did.

Many agree with you,

even the Holy Father in Rome...

...but I do not. I cannot.

What do you know of suffering?

Nothing.

In all our sacred history...

...the chosen ones have always been

those who have suffered.

Why, then, should God choose you?

Why not me?

I cannot answer that.

I know what it is to suffer.

Look at my eyes.

They burn like the very fires of hell.

Why?

Because they need sleep. They need

rest, which I will not give them.

My throat is parched

from constant prayer.

My hands are gnarled

from serving God in humiliation.

My body is pain-racked

from stone floors.

Yes, I have suffered, because I know

it is the only true road to heaven.

And if I, who have tortured myself,

cannot glimpse the Blessed Virgin...

...how can you, who have never

felt pain, dare to say you've seen her?

I don't know why I was chosen.

You are a hundred times more worthy.

If only I could find evidence.

If only you could give me some proof...

...maybe then I could believe.

Maybe then these monsters

of doubt and hate...

...would stop consuming my very soul.

For the love of God, Sister,

give me some proof!

I wish I could help you.

But I have never suffered.

I've never...

Perhaps I can help you.

It may be there is proof for you.

Well, doctor?

Well, in addition to the large tumor

on the knee...

...she has tuberculosis of the bone.

She has never complained of pain?

No.

Has she?

She never mentioned it.

I can't understand it.

She's had this affliction

for a long time.

The constant pain and suffering which

is so characteristic of this disease...

...is too horrible to describe.

SISTER:

Oh, God.

I have tried to storm the gates of heaven

by sacrificing myself.

I know now that we must be chosen...

...that we must be graced

as you have graced this child.

God forgive me.

I've persecuted her,

and I did not believe her...

...because I was filled

with hate and envy.

God help me to serve this chosen soul

for the rest of my days.

God help me!

God help me!

You seem a trifle stronger today, Sister.

Yes, thank you, Mother Superior, I am.

SUPERIOR:
Sister Marie Therese and I

have been discussing the possibility...

...of your taking a trip.

Trip?

We could make the journey to our

convent at Lourdes in easy stages.

Lourdes?

Should not you, of all people,

take advantage of the benefit...

...that's come to the whole world

through you?

That cannot be done.

SUPERIOR:

And why not?

The spring is not for me.

Why should not the spring work

in your case of all cases, Sister?

The spring is not for me.

Did the lady tell you that, my child?

She said, " I cannot promise you

happiness in this world.

Only in the next".

The spring is not for me.

Thank you, doctor.

In that case, Father,

we must notify the bishop immediately.

He wants to hear from Marie

Bernarde's lips a final confirmation.

Sister Marie Bernarde,

we shall read to you...

...the final protocol

of the Commission of Investigation...

...assembled in 1858.

It contains a record of all the testimony

which you offered at the time.

We ask nothing of you,

except that you confirm that testimony.

Do you feel equal to that?

Yes.

OFFICIAL:
" On February 11th,

in the year of our Lord, 1858...

...I, Bernadette Soubirous,

was sent in the company...

...of my sister Marie

and my friend Jeanne Abadie...

...to fetch firewood in the forest".

Do you confirm this?

I did see her.

OFFICIAL:

"At a location known as Massabielle...

...I rested while my sister and friend

crossed the River Gave".

Do you confirm this?

I did see her.

"For a time, nothing happened...

...and then, suddenly, I noticed...

- I did see her!

...the grotto was shaking.

I thought this strange"...

I did see her.

I did see her.

I...

...did see her.

[CROWD SINGING]

You're not sorry

you came back to visit us?

No. For five years,

I've been stationed in Languedoc...

...a stinking hole if ever there was one.

Now that I see this, I realize

what a paradise I've been living in.

You see, my friend, how deeply

hell reaches into human life.

Poor ignorant sheep. Why do they come?

Because they have faith.

Because they're desperate.

Because occasionally someone is cured.

And because some hypochondriac,

due to emotional excitement...

...forgets a malady that never existed.

Oh, yes, we have hundreds of those.

But we have many, many other cases

that aren't so easy to explain.

Yesterday, there was a woman

with lupus, tuberculosis of the face.

Suddenly, she discovered

a nose and a mouth...

...where only minutes before...

...there was nothing

but one large, decaying cavity.

Please, doctor...

...I'm not a gullible sheepherder

from the Pyrenees.

We have pictures in the office.

Would you care to see?

Gentlemen, what's the use?

This same argument has been going on

for a great many years...

...and, I'm afraid, will go on

for a great many more.

To those who believe in God,

no explanation is necessary.

To those who do not,

no explanation will suffice.

BOY:
Your Reverence.

- Adolar.

A message. Your housekeeper

thought it was important...

...and asked me to bring it.

- Thank you.

This is the first. You remember him,

the Bouhouhorts child?

- Is that all, Your Reverence?

- Yes, thank you, Adolar.

[DUTOUR COUGHING]

ESTRADE:
Have the doctor give you

something for that cold.

DUTOUR:

No.

It's just a little laryngitis I picked up

from the drafty train last night.

It will be gone by tomorrow.

Excuse me, gentlemen.

- Good day.

- Good day, dean.

And I give you full permission,

dear doctor...

...to write down in your big book...

...that my amazing recovery

was due solely to the Lady of Lourdes.

If I kept such a book...

...I would write you down

merely as a skeptic...

...who I promise will leave Lourdes

at least...

...wondering.

Not I, doctor. Not I.

This place only succeeds in revolting me.

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