This biography is a key reference book written for the general public.

 St Bernadette of Lourdes died on 16th April 1879. Here is a book published for the centenary of her death, 20 years after the apparitions. 

Who is Bernadette? The daughter of a ruined miller who was put in prison because of his excessive poverty. She was a shepherdess, a seer, a witness, a little David, who won several battles against the many Goliaths set against her; a nun, anurse who ended up "as a sick person" herself. Much has been written about this. The truth is more beautiful than the myths. 

 After 20 years of study and 25 volumes of authoritative scientific publications, Father René Laurentin wrote a simple story of the life of Bernadette, in the way she had asked historians on her death bed: "The simpler it is said, the better."

Rene Laurentin is a theologian and exegete specializing inmarian apparitions. For a long time he was a religious columnist for "Le Figaro". He has published numerous books on Marian apparitions. Former Vatican II expert, Member of the Pontifical Theological Academy "Pontificia Academia Mariana Internationalis" in Rome, University Professor 

Special reprint by The Book Shop in 2009