Grotto

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Each fall it seemed the nuns would herd us upstairs in the school hall and show us the movie "The Song of Bernadette". In her lifetime Bernadette Soubirous reportedly saw 18 visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The first time was near a grotto close to her home. In 1933 she was canonized by Pope Pius XI and was ushered into sainthood. Her body has been exhumed three times since her death, surrounding her qualifications for becoming a saint. Here's an amazing element to all of this. Supposedly, her body has not decomposed after 143 years. However, there are those that believe she had a little 'face work' via a wax-like mask at the last exhumation in 1925. Thousands make the pilgrimage each year to Lourdes, France and pray to her at the grotto. My photo today is the grotto on the grounds of the Franciscan Monastery in Kennebunkport. Each time I visit, I'm jolted back to that movie and Bernadette's story. The movie is long at over 150 minutes and received 4 Oscar nominations in 1943. Every once in awhile, I'll come across it on TCM and watch it for a few minutes. It's somewhat unsettling though, I keep having to peer over my shoulder to se if Sister Admirabilis is lurking.