The Song of Bernadette and Visions of Mary

Last night the missus and I watched the 1943 film, The Song of Bernadette. It is a film about the life of a French peasant girl who in the mid-nineteenth century, begins to see visions of the Virgin Mary in a grotto in the village of Lourdes.

Much of the story concerns the conflicts that arise in the community after Jones is told the grotto contains healing waters. The local politicians are aghast at what they see as religious fanaticism and try to subdue the situation. The Catholic Church is theologically divided about the issue and seeks to investigate Bernadette’s claims.

This was a wonderful film that beautifully dealt with the issue of faith and unbelief. The most remarkable aspect of the film is that we get to see various views from various walks of life portrayed:

There are some peasants who believe Bernadette and some who don’t.

There are some medical doctors who believe Bernadette and some who don’t.

There are some psychiatrists who disbelieve and some businessmen who believe.

There are some politicians who disbelieve Bernadette and seek to silence her.
There are some politicians who may or may not believe Bernadette but publicly try to exploit her.

There are church leaders who believe and some who don’t.

There are some people who disbelieve but nevertheless do not want any harm to come to Bernadette.

There are some people who do believe but nevertheless wish to exploit Bernadette.

And each person has their various reasons for believing and disbelieving Bernadette. Some people believe for honest reasons and some for selfish. Some people disbelieve for honest reasons and some for selfish.

It really is a panoply of various aspects of faith.

The film actually opens with the following phrase (which is repeated by a character toward the end):

For those who believe in God, no explanation is needed. For those who disbelieve in God, no explanation will suffice.

This is really, really a good film and should be seen by all of those who want an understanding of the needs of people whom we wish to evangelize.


But another thought has come to me today.

From a Protestant perspective, I have a bit of a problem with the idea of people seeing the Virgin Mary, especially when she calls herself the Immaculate Conception (one of the priests in the film has the same problem). This film does border on Mariolatry but never makes that final leap.

It’s interesting that most “real” sightings of Mary are seen by Catholics and not Protestants.

So what are the possible explanations for these phenomena?

1) The people who see Mary are lying.
2) The people who see Mary are suffering from a mental episode, i.e., a hallucination.
3) The people who see Mary are being fooled by some trickster or, perhaps, even a demon.
4) The people who see Mary are confusing her with some other person or, perhaps, and angel.
5) And – and this is a possibility – the people who see Mary are REALLY seeing Mary.

This last option is virtually unthinkable to for non-Catholics, but allow me to offer some Scriptural evidence that could support such an event.

First, often times in the Old Testament, a person is confronted by the Angel of the Lord. This angel is a created being but the Lord is speaking through Him to the point where the person being spoken to treats him as the Lord, worships him, and is told that the ground of which the angel stands is Holy (Gen 16, 22, Joshua 5, Judges 2).

Second, there are times in the Scriptures where a person who has died appears to those still living (1 Samuel 28, Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9).

With these verses as evidence, that Mary might appear to Catholics is not out of the realm of possibility.

I suggest that we treat each episode of the appearance of Mary in a case by case basis, comparing the truths of the episode by how it conforms to Scripture.

Any thoughts?