The Song of Bernadette (1943)

Ermadean Walters: Marie Soubirous

Photos 

Quotes 

• Justin Soubirous : [rushing in from outside and boisterously calling out as he immediately plops down at the table to eat]  Father, Son, and Holy Ghost - the one that eats the fastest gets the most!

  Louise Soubirous : Justin! Where did you learn that?

  Marie Soubirous : You'll go to Hell for saying such a thing!

  Justin Soubirous : All I said: 'the one that eats the fastest gets the most.' And it's true.

  Bernadette : Now you've said it again.

  Louise Soubirous : I've seen pigs with better manners and cleaner faces. Get up from that table and go wash yourselves, both of you!

  François Soubirous : Oh, a Mass meeting here, hmm?

• Marie Soubirous : [upon Bernadette Soubirous having just seen the Lady at the Massabielle Grotto in Lourdes, France for the first time]  What were you doing over there, kneeling in the rocks?

  Bernadette : Didn't you see anyone?

  Marie Soubirous : Who?

  Jeanne Abadie : Was somebody with you, in that cave?...

  [coyly] 

  Jeanne Abadie : Oh, somebody was; and you were praying for forgiveness.

  Bernadette : [slightly aghast]  Jeanne!

  Marie Soubirous : Come on, tell us who it was.

  Bernadette : Well, if I tell you, you must swear not to give me away. If mama should hear of it she might take a stick to me.

  Marie Soubirous : [forms a cross with her fingers]  I swear.

  Jeanne Abadie : I give you my word but I won't swear. Swearing like that's a mortal sin, and you don't want me to sin like that just before my first communion do you?... Aw, come on, tell us.

  Bernadette : Well, I saw a lady, and she was all in white; and she wore a blue girdle and had a golden rose on each foot. I've never seen anything in my life so beautiful.

  Jeanne Abadie : [skeptically]  Ah, piff. What would a beautiful lady be doing in a filthy place like that?

  Bernadette : I don't know. But she was there, truly she was.

• Marie Soubirous : [upon arriving back home after out gathering firewood]  Bernadette's all excited because she says she saw a lady at Massabielle - all dressed in white, with golden roses on her feet.

  Louise Soubirous : What on Earth are you talking about?

  Marie Soubirous : That's what she told us.

  Louise Soubirous : [dismissively]  Golden roses on her feet.

  Marie Soubirous : She said this lady was standing on a rock and smiled at her. She had a rosary of pearls, and a golden crucifix and a...

  Bernadette : Marie! You told on me, and you said you wouldn't.

  Marie Soubirous : Maman asked me.

  Louise Soubirous : What's this foolishness Marie tells me?

  Bernadette : It's true maman. In the cave of Massabielle I saw a most beautiful lady.

  Louise Soubirous : A lady? What lady?

  Bernadette : I don't know. Suddenly she was there, and then suddenly she disappeared.

  Louise Soubirous : Ah, nonsense.

  Bernadette : Oh no maman, she was there. Her face was so beautiful, just to look at her made me feel...

  Louise Soubirous : Soubirous, you hear what she says?

  François Soubirous : [also dismissively and slightly angry]  I heard, and I know why she says it too: she's showing off - makes up a story to feel important. It always starts the same way with fairytales... golden roses on her feet, indeed.

  Bernadette : No papa, I really and truly saw the lady; truly I did.