The incorrupt relics of St. Bernadette. Imperishable Bernadette Soubirous

Exhumation was carried out twice more - in 1919 and in 1925, and again the body turned out to be incorrupt. After this, the remains were placed in a reliquary in the Chapel of St. Bernadette in Nevere. Beatification (the rite of beatification) took place on June 14, 1925, canonization on December 8, 1933. Saint Bernadette's Feast Day is April 16th. In France, her day is also celebrated on February 18th.

The site of the appearance of the Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette has become one of the main centers of Catholic pilgrimage. Up to five million pilgrims come to Lourdes every year. Sources in the Catholic Church claim that in the first 50 years of pilgrimage alone, at least 4,000 people received complete cures for a variety of diseases. On the site of the grotto of the apparition, the temple of Notre-Dame de Lourdes was erected.

Relics - remains of saints christian church- have been the object of religious veneration in the Orthodox and Catholic churches from time immemorial. But for the most part, the relics are skeletal bones or dried bodies that have undergone natural mummification under special burial conditions (for example, in the dry and cold climate of the caves of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery).

There are two main positions that explain the excellent preservation of the human body after death. The Church believes that the bodies of the saints did not undergo decomposition by the will of God, who preserved the relics incorruptible specifically for the believers. In addition, it is believed that the remains of God’s saints contain grace that can heal illnesses.

Science believes that the safety of a corpse directly depends on the conditions in which it was kept. If it is dry soil that absorbs liquid well, and a cool climate, then the body has a better chance of being preserved (mummification) than if it were in storage. humid environment. In addition, there are a number of ways to slow down decomposition (for example, embalming, known since ancient times).

Bernadette's body lay in a damp grave for 30 years. And there are no signs of decomposition or mummification on it. That is, it is incorruptible. Her facial features are completely preserved, her hands have not changed at all, even her nails look flawless. Without any doubt - a miracle. But only for believers.

For scientists, nothing is sacred. After conducting research, they found that the excellent preservation of the body was not explained by a miracle, but by ordinary human intervention, namely, wax, which was applied in a thin layer to Bernadette’s dried face during the second exhumation, completely repeating its features.

But what about the hands and other parts of the body, which are also preserved in impeccable condition? Scientists have found an explanation here too. They believe that the relics of the real Saint Bernadette have long been kept in a nearby crypt (just in case), and only... wax figure. In this case, perhaps only the face and hands. Everything else is hidden by clothing. And now pilgrims are watching the wax figure from a respectful distance (since visitors are not allowed close to the glass coffin with Bernadette’s “body”).

If you look closely at two photographs of Bernadette (shortly before her death and today), you might even think that over the many years of her “imperishable” existence, our heroine has become even more beautiful and transformed. Moreover, the facial features of modern Bernadette in no way coincide with the facial features of the same saint, only 130 years ago.

It is noteworthy that all the saints were allowed to be filmed from different angles: without coffins, clothes, etc. Everyone except Bernadette.

People living next to saints not only do not notice their holiness until an obvious miracle occurs, but they often do not want to see anything sacred in those whose holiness will be obvious to posterity even when the miracle occurs. When on February 11, 1858, a “gentle, living light” illuminated a grotto near Mount Masabel and the Holy Virgin, a “beautiful young lady,” appeared to a poor girl from Lourdes, no one believed in the authenticity of this event.

Saint Marie Bernarda Soubirous, or Bernadette as she was known at home, was born on January 7, 1844 in the French Pyrenees into a poor family, where she was the eldest of the five surviving children. She was weak and sickly, illiterate, and at the age of 14 she had not yet had First Communion, although she really wanted it. The Soubirous family was very poor, and at the age of 12 Bernadette had to, despite her poor health, be hired as a maid, where she worked for food and because the mistress promised to teach her the Catechism, but soon took this promise back, claiming that the girl was too stupid. Bernadette continued to dream of First Communion, and the parish priest began to work with her, but he also considered her not smart enough. Bernadette will hear these accusations of stupidity and worthlessness, of lack of any abilities, many more times during her short life.

On February 11, 1858, Bernadette, her sister and her friend went to Mount Masabel to collect firewood. They came to a place where they had to ford the canal, and Bernadette stopped to take off her stockings before going into the water, while the girls went a little ahead. Hearing the noise that arises from a gust of wind, she looked back and saw how the grotto nearby was illuminated with light, which, later telling about the incident, she called “gentle and alive” and she saw a girl in white. Bernadette was probably scared because she tried to read the rosary, but until the beautiful girl crossed herself, she could not begin to pray. Finally, she began to pray, and the “girl” prayed with her, fingering her rosary. Then, the vision called Bernadette to come closer, but the girl was afraid. “The young lady,” as Bernadette later called her, disappeared. When Bernadette spoke about the “young lady in white” with her sister and her friend, they did not understand what she was talking about - they did not see anyone. When they returned, the girls said that Bernadette had seen a ghost near the grotto.

Conversations and speculation began. Someone suggested that it could be the Blessed Virgin, they questioned the girl, but Bernadette only said: “It was something in white, like a young lady.” None of the so-called “enlightened people” believed Bernadette, nor did they believe her. loved ones. Her story was attributed to a painful condition, excessive developed imagination, the desire to attract attention, anything but supernatural reasons. She was scolded, even punished, forbidden to go to the grotto, but usually very obedient, here Bernadette showed amazing persistence. From February 11 to July 16, 1858, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Bernadette 18 times. Those who accompanied her to the grotto did not see or hear what Bernadette saw and heard, but they saw that she was seized with ecstasy, that she was seeing and hearing something amazing. She was forced to “test” the vision: sprinkle the grotto with holy water, cast spells, and even ask the “young lady” to write her name on a piece of paper. In response to this request, expressed very politely, the “young lady” asked Bernadette to come to the grotto within the next 15 days. During these meetings, the Holy Virgin spoke about the need for repentance, and also said that she wanted a procession to come to the grotto and for a church to be built near it. At the same time, eyewitnesses observing these events saw Bernadette, obeying what she heard, crawling to the grotto on her knees as a sign of repentance and eating bitter herbs. Then, by order of the Holy Virgin, she began to dig out a puddle in the depths of the grotto with her hands, and soon a powerful spring began to flow from there. clean water. Rumors quickly spread that this spring miraculously healed those who drank from it or washed themselves with its water. There were immediately those who wanted to explain the healings by natural causes, including the mayor of Lourdes, who dreamed of turning Lourdes into a fashionable resort. A chemical analysis of the water was done, which showed that it did not have any healing properties and does not differ in chemical composition from the water of any spring in the mountains. Healings continued, and soon conversions began - those who had long stopped going to church began to confess again.

Meanwhile, monstrous pressure was put on Bernadette, the purpose of which was to force her to admit that she had not actually seen anything and had invented both the “young lady” and her instructions. They tried to confuse her, force her to sign false testimony allegedly written down from her words, they threatened her and were even going to put her in an insane asylum, but this girl, who could not read and write, with amazing firmness, fortitude and simplicity, insisted on what she saw and heard, without allowing any of these adults, educated and very experienced people to confuse themselves.

On March 25, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, Bernadette again asked the “lady” to reveal her name to her, and the Virgin Mary told her: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Bernadette did not understand the meaning of these words, but, repeating them incessantly, so as not to forget, she ran to the priest’s house, where she repeated what she had heard. The priest, who knew Bernadette well, could not help but understand that the illiterate girl, who did not know not only Latin, but also French, who spoke only dialect all her life, could not have invented this. The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX just four years before the events at Lourdes.

Four years later, in 1862, the apparitions in Lourdes were officially recognized by the Church, and Lourdes became a place of mass pilgrimage for believers. Many were looking for a meeting with Bernadette. Some were driven by faith, others by curiosity, one might say that the poor girl became a celebrity, but she was very burdened by the attention to her person, and she tried in every possible way to avoid it. She did what the Mother of God instructed her - she conveyed her message about the need for repentance, a church was built near the grotto, and the processions that the Holy Virgin spoke about now walked to the grotto one after another. Now, Bernadette believed, she was no longer needed, like a broom that was placed outside the door after cleaning the house. She sincerely repeated that there was no merit in what happened to her. Its simple and pure heart told her that the Virgin Mary had chosen her for her weakness, like a mother choosing the weakest of her children, while most of those around her looked at her as a special being, some with respect, others with envy. She said: “I had no right to this mercy. The Blessed Virgin took me as one picks up a pebble from the road..."

To avoid annoying attention to herself, at the age of 22 she entered the monastery of merciful and school sisters in Nevers, but even here it was not easy for her. Even in the monastery she was pursued by curious people. Unwittingly, the sisters looked for some special abilities in her that she did not have. She said about herself that “she only knows how to be sick.” She was assigned to the infirmary, where she looked after other patients while she was able. Her health became worse and worse, tuberculosis, which she contracted at the age of 14, was destroying her body, recent years the swelling on her leg almost prevented her from walking. April 16, 1879, Wednesday on Easter week she died with the words: “My God, I love You...Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me, a poor sinner!” Her body, which remained incorrupt, rests in the Nevers Monastery, where she spent the last 13 years.

In 1933, Maria Bernarda Soubirous was canonized. An article dedicated to her in one of the Catholic encyclopedias says that she is a saint not because she saw the Blessed Virgin, but because her whole life was an example of deep faith, prayer and extraordinary humility.

Marvelous! Even her nails are in wonderful condition! She looks like just a sleeping girl!

Lots of things happen unexplained phenomena that science cannot explain, including the incorruptibility of saints.

This girl died 135 years ago. Now she lies in a glass coffin. The shadow of death did not touch her face. She seems to be sleeping in a sound, peaceful sleep and, like a sleeping princess, is waiting for her prince to wake her up with a tender kiss.

Maria Bernarda (or Bernadette) Soubirous born on January 7, 1844 in a village near the French city of Lourdes into a poor family. Her father was a miller and her mother was a laundress. Bernadette was the eldest of five children to survive childhood. They lived in such poverty that the girl was unable to receive any education, and at the age of 12 she was forced to take a job as a servant.

On February 11, 1858, Bernadette went with her sister and friend to buy firewood. Suddenly she heard a slight noise and saw that the nearby grotto was illuminated by a gentle, living light, and the rosehip bush at the entrance was swaying as if from the wind. In the illuminated grotto, “something white, similar to a young lady” appeared to the girl (her companions did not notice anything).

Over the next six months, the “white young lady” appeared to Bernadette 17 more times. During 11 apparitions, she did not say anything, then she called for repentance and prayer for sinners and ordered a chapel to be built on this site.

After several persistent requests from Bernadette to say her name, the “young lady” finally answered: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” This answer confused the local priest: an illiterate girl, who was not even given the catechism, could not have known about the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, proclaimed four years earlier by Pope Pius IX, and, therefore, she did not invent anything.

The “young lady” ordered Bernadette to dig a hole in the corner of the grotto, from which a spring with healing water then emerged. Crowds of pilgrims flocked to Lourdes, eager for healing.

In 1868, Bernadette entered a convent in Nevers, where she cared for the sick and did handicrafts. She believed that there was no merit of her own in the fact that the Mother of God appeared to her: “I had no right to this mercy. The Blessed Virgin took me, as one picks up a pebble from the road... If the Blessed Virgin chose me, it was because I was the most ignorant. If she had found someone even more ignorant than me, she would have chosen her.”

Miracle of Saint Bernadette

On April 16, 1879, Maria Bernarda died of tuberculosis, having lived only 35 years. On April 19, she was buried in a galvanized oak coffin.

Meanwhile, the rumor about the poor girl to whom the Mother of God appeared, and about miraculous power The Lourdes source spread throughout France, and the question arose about the canonization of Maria Bernarda. To do this, it was necessary to carry out a canonical examination of the body of the deceased.

On September 22, 1909, the exhumation took place. A detailed official report on this is in the archives of the Saint-Gildar monastery. It states that at 8:30 a.m. the coffin was opened in the presence of Monsignor Gautier, Bishop of Nevers, as well as members of the diocesan tribunal.

When the coffin lid was removed, Bernadette's perfectly preserved body was found. Her face radiated with girlish beauty, her eyes were closed, as if she were immersed in a calm sleep, and her lips were slightly open. The head was slightly tilted to the left, the arms were folded on the chest and entwined with heavily rusted rosaries; her skin, from under which the veins were visible, adhered to the tissues in perfect condition; Likewise, the fingernails and toenails were in excellent condition.

A detailed examination of the body was carried out by two doctors. After removing the vestments, Bernadette's entire body looked as if it were alive, elastic and intact in every part. After the study, a protocol was drawn up with the signatures of doctors and witnesses. The sister nuns washed and dressed the body in new vestments, and then placed it in a new, double coffin, which was closed, sealed and placed again in the original tomb.

The phenomenon of the “white young lady”

The “young lady” ordered Bernadette to dig a hole in the corner of the grotto, from which a spring with healing water then emerged. Crowds of pilgrims flocked to Lourdes, eager for healing.

Miracle of Saint Bernadette

On April 16, 1879, Maria Bernarda died of tuberculosis, having lived only 35 years. On April 19, she was buried in a galvanized oak coffin.

Meanwhile, rumors about the poor girl to whom the Mother of God appeared and about the miraculous power of the Lourdes spring spread throughout France, and the question arose about the canonization of Maria Bernarda. To do this, it was necessary to carry out a canonical examination of the body of the deceased. On September 22, 1909, the exhumation took place. A detailed official report on this is in the archives of the Saint-Gildar monastery. It states that at 8:30 a.m. the coffin was opened in the presence of Monsignor Gautier, Bishop of Nevers, as well as members of the diocesan tribunal.

Exhumation was carried out twice more - in 1919 and 1925, and again the body turned out to be incorrupt. After this, the remains were placed in a reliquary in the chapel of St. Bernadette in Nevere. Beatification (the rite of beatification) took place on June 14, 1925, canonization on December 8, 1933. Saint Bernadette's Feast Day is April 16th. In France, her day is also celebrated on February 18th.

Beautiful fairy tale

The condition of Saint Bernadette's body contradicts all the laws of nature and science. 135 years after death, only one skeleton should remain from the body. After the heart stops, blood stops circulating, body cells do not receive oxygen and die within a few minutes. The decomposition of a body depends largely on the conditions in which it is exposed, but usually the process begins within a few days.

After a few weeks, the hair and nails separate from the body. After a few months, the body tissues take on a liquid form. After a year, the body usually remains only a skeleton and teeth and only traces of tissue. The body of Saint Bernadette is not in the least subject to processes of decomposition - neither external nor internal - and to this day retains amazing freshness and beauty.

Miracle? But what is a miracle? This is what we call something that human reason and science in its modern state cannot give a clear explanation.

Relics - the remains of saints of the Christian Church - have been the object of religious veneration in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches from time immemorial. But for the most part, the relics are skeletal bones or dried bodies that have undergone natural mummification under special burial conditions (for example, in the dry and cold climate of the caves of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery).

Science believes that the safety of a corpse directly depends on the conditions in which it was kept. If it is dry soil that absorbs liquid well, and a cool climate, then the body has a better chance of being preserved (mummification) than if it were in a humid environment. In addition, there are a number of ways to slow down decomposition (for example, embalming, known since ancient times).

Of particular note is saponification - the process of turning human fat into wax (fat wax). In this case, the body after death completely retains its weight (unlike the process of mummification) and may outwardly appear incorruptible. Although, of course, it is not.

But Bernadette's body lay in a damp grave for 30 years. And there are no signs of decomposition or mummification on it. That is, it is incorruptible. Her facial features are completely preserved, her hands have not changed at all, even her nails look flawless. Without any doubt - a miracle. But only for believers. For scientists, nothing is sacred. After conducting research, they found that the excellent preservation of the body was not explained by a miracle, but by ordinary human intervention, namely, wax, which was applied in a thin layer to Bernadette’s dried face during the second exhumation, completely repeating its features.

But what about the hands and other parts of the body, which are also preserved in impeccable condition? Scientists have found an explanation here too. They believe that the relics of the real Saint Bernadette have long been kept in a nearby crypt (just in case), and only... a wax figure is on display in a glass coffin. In this case, perhaps only the face and hands. Everything else is hidden by clothing. And now pilgrims are watching the wax figure from a respectful distance (since visitors are not allowed close to the glass coffin with Bernadette’s “body”).

It is noteworthy that all the saints were allowed to be filmed from different angles: without coffins, clothes, etc. Everyone except Bernadette. Why? The answer seems obvious - Catholic Church everyone possible ways trying to preserve a beautiful fairy tale about a young girl who, during her lifetime, was the Mother of God herself and who, after death, was able to defeat the laws of nature, managed to preserve (and even transform) her body. It continues to attract crowds of pilgrims from all over the world and brings popularity to the Catholic faith.

Mikhail YUREV

A simple girl, Maria Bernarda Sibur, had an extraordinary fate. She saw the Virgin Mary, became a Catholic saint, an incorruptible relic, which represents a miracle of God and an incomprehensible mystery of science

Bernadette Soubirous said: “I had no right to this mercy. The Blessed Virgin took me as one picks up a pebble from the road...” Indeed, the eldest daughter of a miller and a washerwoman did not stand out from her peers in any way, until on February 11, 1858, while collecting all sorts of things for a junk shop near the city of Lourdes, she saw a miracle. The grotto located nearby lit up with light, and “something white, similar to a young lady” appeared in it.
Over the next few months, Bernadette saw the vision in the grotto seventeen more times. At first the figure remained silent, then, calling for repentance and prayer for sinners, he ordered a chapel to be built at the site of the apparitions. She said “the young lady” and her name: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
Upon learning of what had happened, the local priest was dismayed. Uneducated Bernadette could not know the dogma about immaculate conception Virgin Mary, proclaimed by the Vatican literally a few years before the events described. ( It's about about the liberation of Mary at the moment of her own conception from the power of original sin, to which all people are subject, as descendants of Adam and Eve). The representative of the authorities also absolutely did not know what to do or think. The strange girl was interrogated for many hours, threatened with prison, the local newspaper made fun of her, wrote about “a girl, by all indications, susceptible to catalepsy, exciting the curiosity of the Lourdes population.” There was something else. When word of the miracle spread throughout the area, people began to follow Bernadette in crowds, watched for hours as she prayed at the grotto, tried to get closer, touch her hand, kiss the hem of her clothes.
It was not until 1862 that the Lourdes apparitions were officially recognized by the church. A pilgrimage began to the grotto and the source, which does not stop to this day. Bernadette became a nun in 1868 and lived in the monastery of the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, caring for the sick and doing handicrafts.
In 1879 she died of tuberculosis.

Place of pilgrimage
On March 1, 1858, in the cave where the Mother of God appeared to the girl, the first miracle occurred. Bernadette's friend stuck her sore hand into the spring and received healing. The second thing was that it restored the old man’s sight. Immediately the fame of the Lourdes Grotto spread to all corners and villages.
Emile Zola wrote: “...not only France, all of Europe, the whole world set out on the journey, and in some years of special religious upsurge there were from three hundred to five hundred thousand people there.” Now the site of the appearance of the Virgin Mary is visited annually by five to six million people, pilgrims and tourists. As for miraculous healings, in Lourdes there is a special medical bureau that records and verifies every fact of healing with the help of miraculous water from the source. Since 1858, doctors have registered 6,800 such cases, but only 66 received official confirmation, having undergone a 15-year audit, during which the health status of the patient was constantly monitored. In the near future, two more miraculous healings: a 25-year-old French woman and a 60-year-old Italian man are awaiting official recognition.
The latest officially recognized case concerns the Frenchman, 51-year-old Jean-Pierre Beli. In 1972 he was paralyzed, but after a pilgrimage to Lourdes he recovered from wheelchair and started walking. Doctors didn't find scientific explanation what happened. But it is not required. Pilgrims are still driven by faith.

After death
After burial, due to mandatory church rules, Bernadette's coffin was opened three times. In 1909, it turned out that the body was perfectly preserved, remained elastic and undamaged, as doctors and witnesses noted in the protocol. After exhumation, the body was placed in a new, double oak coffin (the previous one was zinc), which was closed, sealed and placed back into the original tomb. A second survey in 1919 found the same thing as the first. The remains were not subject to decay! As a result, Pope Pius XI made a conclusion about the “heroic degree of virtues” of Bernadette Soubirous, thereby opening the way to beatification (the stage preceding canonization).
The third time the coffin was opened in 1925, 46 years and two days after Bernadette's death. Dr. Comte, a participant in the last exhumation, wrote: “... Bernadette’s body was incorruptible (undamaged) ... completely unaffected by the processes of rotting and decomposition, quite natural after being in a coffin for such a long time, taken out of the ground...”. Here is another quote from the same Dr. Comte: “When examining the body, I was surprised by the perfectly preserved skeleton, all the ligaments, skin, as well as the elasticity and firmness of the muscle tissue... But most of all, my amazement was caused by the condition of the liver 46 years after death. This organ, so fragile and delicate, would very soon undergo decomposition or calcify and harden. Meanwhile, having extracted it for the purpose of obtaining relics (fragments of the liver, muscles, and two ribs were taken from the relics), I discovered that it had an elastic, normal consistency. I immediately showed it to my assistants, telling them that this fact went beyond the natural order of things.”
In the summer of 1925, Bernadette's body was placed in a transparent sarcophagus, which was installed in the monastery chapel, to the right of the main altar. Blessed Bernadette's canonization took place in 1933 in the Vatican.

Imperishable relics
According to church canons, the incorruption of the body is not a sign of holiness, but in the best possible way confirms a godly life. Therefore, we will not touch on the religious aspects of this topic. Let's talk abstractly.
A body that has not undergone posthumous changes is considered incorruptible. Until recently, the body of Pope John XXIII was recognized as such. However, the church itself, after conducting research, noted a deviation from the canons. It turned out that the body was embalmed, and no oxygen entered the sealed triple coffin, which, stopping the decomposition process, allowed the remains to be perfectly preserved since 1963.
Another wonderful example also has its own compromising component. Paramahansa Yogananda, the famous yogi, passed away in Los Angeles in May 1952. "The absence of any visible signs the decomposition of the dead body of Paramahansa Yogananda is a unique case in our practice...Signs of physical decay were not noticeable even twenty days after death...No signs of mold were visible on the skin of his body, and the tissues did not dry out. This state of complete incorruptibility, as far as we know from the annals of funerals, is an unprecedented case. Upon receiving Yogananda's body, the mortuary staff expected to see the usual progressive signs of decomposition, which could be observed through the glass lid of the coffin. Our amazement increased every day, since no noticeable changes occurred in the body. It was clearly in a phenomenal, incorruptible state...There was no smell of decay...there was no reason to claim that his body was suffering from any physical decay at all. Therefore, we reiterate that the case of Paramahansa Yogananda is unique in our practice,” wrote the director of the Los Angeles morgue, where the yogi’s body was temporarily placed. However, there is information that the yogi’s body was embalmed.
Another incorruptible body is considered to be the body of Hambo Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov, who died in 1927. The exhumation carried out in 2002 created a world sensation. Itigelov had all the signs of a living body: soft skin, no signs of decay, his nose and ears were not damaged, his eyes were not leaking, his fingers and elbow joints were mobile, his body was fragrant. However, today the picture is no longer the same. The llama's body increasingly resembles a mummy.
And here is what the local communist newspaper Kurskaya Pravda wrote about the opening of the shrine with the relics of St. Joseph of Belgorod on December 1, 1920: “The audience present was amazed at the high degree of preservation of the body, which had lain in the coffin for 166 years. People thought that this was the result of artificial mummification, and they asked the doctor to cut open the stomach to make sure of its contents. (During artificial embalming, the entrails are necessarily removed, clarifies www.oracle-today.ru). The surgeon made an incision and removed part of the intestines, which were completely dry, which proves the naturalness of the mummification process.”
As a result, the relics of St. Joseph of Belgorod were sent for research to Moscow, since local experts were unable to explain the phenomenon of excellent preservation of the body buried in the mid-18th century. It seemed as if the man had died not a century and a half ago, but literally yesterday. The relics were placed on display in the anatomical museum, but crowds of believers began to flock to it and the atheistic “show” had to be interrupted.

Hypotheses
Experts claim that there is a materialistic explanation for the phenomenon of incorruptible relics. There are places on earth natural conditions which contribute to “conservation”. For example: the Capuchin catacombs in Palermo and Malta, the basements of St. Michael's Church in Dublin, the Kyiv Caves, etc. However, not all bodies are preserved in these unique areas.
Popular embalming agents include alcohol, formaldehyde, honey, sand, salt, radiation and other complex natural processes and phenomena. But their action is not universal. Therefore, although there are arguments, it is not possible to formulate a scientific concept regarding incorruptibility.
Scientists have also tried to summarize the signs of truly incorruptible remains. The list is not long at all: an undecomposed body, a persistent aroma, the presence of paranormal effects. For example, a glow, a phenomenon in dreams or the “prophecies” of Hambo Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov. But none of these properties can be analyzed or solved.
As for the body of Saint Bernadette, its unique preservation is also not absolute. The Church does not hide the fact that the saint’s face is covered with wax. It seems that after the second exhumation, the process of mummification began, the body was already very dry and began to darken, so it was covered with a protective mask. Which allowed skeptics to believe that a wax figure was on display. A similar opinion was held by the magazine “Revolution and the Church” in 1920, when it published the report of the VIII Department of the People's Commissariat of Justice to the Congress of Soviets on the results of the “check” of the holy Orthodox saints. However, other sources indicate the opposite. When the relics of St. Alexander of Svir were discovered, witnesses were amazed: “I expected to see dense compressed fabric, but instead, on the cut... I saw that under a layer of wax-colored skin there was snow-white, porous and soft tissue... this fabric was striking in its whiteness, looseness and airiness.” The Bolsheviks wrote with rapture about the wax doll found in the cancer.
“Such a result cannot be achieved by any means of artificial embalming. During embalming, the tissues thicken and darken, but here there is looseness, snow-whiteness, and even inside under the surface layer of the epidermis - human minds and hands do not master such a differentiated art of embalming,” this is what the experts wrote when they had the opportunity to examine the body of the great Orthodox saint. What followed was a more than logical conclusion: the state of the flesh of St. Alexander - his holy relics are beyond the competence of science and cannot be described by ordinary processes at the level of cells and tissues.
The same applies to the incorrupt body of Saint Bernadette. No matter what atheists claim, a thin layer of wax is not able to stop the process of decay. This is obvious. Therefore, since harmony cannot be verified by algebra, one should not confuse righteous and sinful. Miracles have happened and will continue to happen. But whether to believe in them or not is a personal matter for everyone.

The incorrupt relics of St. Bernadette. Imperishable Bernadette Soubirous

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