The Documented Case of Bernadette Soubirous

Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary of Lourdes, died at the convent of Saint-Gildard in Nevers in 1879 and was buried there. Her body was exhumed three times as part of the diocesan process toward canonization: in 1909, in 1919 and in 1925. At the first exhumation, witnesses recorded a natural skin tone and hands still intact, though a rosary buried with her had decayed. By the second exhumation in 1919, some discoloration had appeared, partly attributed to a well-intentioned washing given by the sisters after the first opening.

At the third exhumation in 1925, the examining physician described the body as practically mummified and marked with patches of mildew and a notable layer of salts, though skin remained present over most of it. Given the discoloration, church authorities judged the blackened appearance of the face unsuitable for public veneration and had the Paris mannequin designer Pierre Imans apply a thin wax mask over the face and hands before the body was placed on permanent display under glass at Nevers, where it remains today, still visited by pilgrims. The convent has permitted periodic re-examination in the following century, and each later inspection has confirmed the wax mask remains intact and the underlying preservation essentially unchanged since 1925, with no further public alteration made to her appearance.