Mar 24, 2016
BELIEVE ME, BRIGADIER, IT WON’T LAST!
SOON EVERYONE WILL BE LAUGHING AT THE VILLAGE OF LOURDES!
THEY ALREADY ARE!
I GO AWAY FOR JUST ONE WEEK, AND LOOK WHAT
HAPPENS!
IT'S MUCH WORSE, COMMIS-SIONER JACOMET!
What on earth was going on in the small town of Lourdes, France, in February 1858?
In a small, rocky grotto near the Gave River, a fourteen-year-old girl named Bernadette Soubirous had seen a beautiful young woman surrounded by light. Bernadette promised the lady to return each day for fifteen days. Mobs of people were gathering near the river, praying and waiting. The authorities were furious, the priests disbelieving.
“I am the Immaculate Conception,” the lady told the simple peasant girl.
What could it mean?
Using historical records and beautiful artwork, this graphic novel tells the exciting story of Saint Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes.
www.JClubCatholic.org
$8.95 U.S.
WHAT’S GOING ON
HERE?
BELIEVE ME, BRIGADIER, IT WON’T LAST!
SOON EVERYONE WILL BE LAUGHING AT THE VILLAGE OF LOURDES!
THEY ALREADY ARE!
I GO AWAY FOR JUST ONE WEEK, AND LOOK WHAT
HAPPENS!
IT'S MUcH WORSE, cOMMISSIONER
JAcOMET!
WE’RE NOT LIVING IN THE MIDDLE
AGES! AREN’T WE IN 1858, BRIGADIER? AREN’T WE?
SO EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT’S GOING ON IN LOURDES, AN INSIGNIFIcANT TOWN OF 3,000
PEOPLE!
WHY ARE PEOPLE RUSHING BY THE HUN-
DREDS TO THIS ISOLATED GROTTO, FOLLOWING A
14-YEAR-OLD GIRL?
AND REcITING PRAYERS FOR
HOURS ON END? WELL . . .
AND YOU TELL ME THE SOUBIROUS GIRL IS AT THE BOTTOM OF ALL THIS? WAIT, BRIGADIER
. . . IS SHE THE DAUGHTER OF THAT MAN WHO SPENT EIGHT DAYS IN PRISON
LAST WINTER?
BAH, THE POOR MILLER WAS UNEM-PLOYED. HIS FAMILY WAS HUNGRY. HE WAS SUSPEcTED OF STEALING
TWO SAcKS OF FLOUR.
HE WAS INNOcENT. BUT WHEN HIS HOUSE WAS SEARcHED, THEY FOUND SOME TIMBER.
AHA! TIMBER?
THEN HE’S A THIEF!
HE’S NOT A THIEF. THE TIMBER HAD BEEN ABANDONED ALONG
THE ROAD. SO THE PROSEcUTOR ORDERED HIM RELEASED.
HERE WE ARE! TOMORROW I’LL QUESTION THE GIRL. WHAT’S
WRONG?
TOMORROW? BUT IT’S SUNDAY!
THIS IS URGENT, BRIGADIER!
EIGHT DAYS IN PRISON! FOR
NOTHING! IT’S HARD TO BE POOR . . .
SUNDAY, FEB. 21 . . .
GOOD GRIEF! WHAT I DON’T GO THROUGH FOR
THE EMPEROR!
INcREDIBLE! THE SUN HASN’T EVEN RISEN YET, AND
THEY’RE WILLING TO STAND AROUND IN THE cOLD ON A SUNDAY MORNING.
THE POLIcE SAY THERE ARE AT LEAST 150 PEOPLE! HOW MANY AccORDING TO THE ORGANIZERS? BUT . . .
BUT WHO ARE THE ORGANIZERS?
I JUST NEED TO FIND THE
LEADERS. THAT WILL END ALL THIS
NONSENSE!
THERE! THE GIRL SEEMS NO OLDER THAN ELEVEN! HOW cOULD SHE HAVE STAGED ALL
THIS BY HERSELF?
SHE’S LOOKING IN THE DIREcTION OF THE GROTTO, BUT THERE’S NOTHING
THERE, EXcEPT A LEAFLESS BUSH…
AH! SOMEONE IS APPROAcHING HER! cOULD
IT BE THE PERSON WHO MASTERMINDED THIS?
LET’S SEE!
WHO IS IT? DR. DOZOUS! WHAT? HE’S REAcHING FOR HER HAND, HER ARM?
OH! HE’S TAKING HER PULSE.
THE SUN IS RISING . . .
I’VE SEEN ENOUGH. I DON’T
WANT TO BE REcOGNIZED!
WELL, I DIDN’T SEE FR. PEYRAMALE, THE PASTOR, AT THE GROTTO. BUT HE MAY BE
BEHIND ALL THIS.
HE MUST BE TRYING TO PROFIT
FROM IT!
cOMMISSIONER! YOU’VE
RETURNED!
AH, THE PASTOR! YOU’RE JUST THE ONE I
WANT TO SEE!
TELL ME, FATHER, WHIcH OF YOUR cOLLEAGUES
ORGANIZED THE PRAYERS AT THE GROTTO? THERE WERE AT LEAST
150 PEOPLE THERE AT DAWN.
THE VILLAGERS ARE cERTAINLY
RELIGIOUS!THAT’S NOT IT!
cOME HERE!
IT’S A DISASTER!
WHAT??
I DON’T UNDERSTAND! EVERYBODY IS AT THE GROTTO PRAYING. AREN’T YOU HAPPY ABOUT THAT?
BUT . . . IT’S ALL
BEcAUSE OF NOTH-
ING!
. . . IT’S A REAL PROBLEM. AND IT MUST BE HANDLED cAREFULLY . . .
LET ME SUM IT UP: FOR TEN DAYS, THAT YOUNG GIRL HAS PRETENDED
TO SEE “THE HOLY VIRGIN.” YES . . . BUT . . . NO . . .
WELL? YES OR
NO?PLEASE, SPEAK MORE
SOFTLY.
SHE HASN’T SAID THAT IT’S THE BLESSED VIRGIN. SHE SAID IT’S A YOUNG WOMAN, A LADY IN WHITE . . .
FROM THE BEGINNING, SHE’S
SIMPLY cALLED HER “THAT ONE.”
“THAT ONE”?
YES, “AQUERO” IN THE LOcAL DIALEcT,
THE ONLY LANGUAGE SHE
SPEAKS.
SHE DOESN’T . . . NOT A
WORD!
BUT THEN, WHO’S
cLAIMING THE LADY IS THE BLESSED
VIRGIN?
THE PEOPLE . . . JUST AS THEY DID AT LA SALETTE,
WHERE APPARITIONS TOOK PLAcE ONLY
12 YEARS AGO, AND AT PARIS, MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO . . .
APPARITIONS? REALLY?
YES. cATHOLIcS DON’T HAVE TO BELIEVE IN THEM, BUT THE cHURcH REcOGNIZES
THAT THERE HAVE BEEN SIGNS FROM HEAVEN.
OH? AND HOW DOES
THE cHURcH KNOW?
THE ARcHBISHOP OF
PARIS HAS ALLOWED A SMALL MEDAL TO BE STRUcK
THAT SHOWS THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. IT’S BEEN A MEANS
THROUGH WHIcH GOD HAS WORKED MANY HEALINGS. PEOPLE cALL IT THE “MIRAcULOUS MEDAL.” THE cHURcH INVESTIGATES THESE
THINGS VERY cAREFULLY AND . . .
BUT I’M THE ONE INVESTIGATING WHAT’S GOING ON NOW. HAVE YOU YOURSELF SEEN
ANYTHING AT THE GROTTO?
I cAN’T RISK THAT! I HAVEN’T
GONE!
SHE DOESN’T SPEAK
FRENcH?
FR. PEYRAMALE DOES SEEM SINcERE . . .
BUT HE’S THE ONE WHO’LL
PROFIT FROM THESE SO-cALLED APPARITIONS . . . PRAYERS, cROWDS,
DEVOTIONS . . .
THIS IS REAL
TROUBLE!!
WHAT IS THIS VISION? WHAT’S BRINGING MORE THAN 150 PEOPLE, AT NIGHT, IN THE FREEZ-
ING cOLD, TO PRAY BEFORE A BARREN GROTTO?
AT A PLAcE WHERE
PIGS ARE HERDED! AND WHAT
ABOUT THESE “HEALINGS”? BAH!
THIS IS THE 19TH cENTURY!
THERE’S NOTHING THERE.
NO HIDDEN DEVIcES, NO TRIcKERY . . .
THE GIRL IS A NOBODY. BUT WHO cOULD
BE ORGANIZING THIS?
WHAT ABOUT LAST
MONTH WHEN THAT ITALIAN MADMAN
TRIED TO KILL EMPEROR NAPOLEON
III?. . HIS BOMB KILLED EIGHT PEOPLE . . .
AND WOUNDED 143! THE TRIAL
BEGINS IN THREE DAYS . . . cAN THERE BE
A cONNEc-TION?
ARE BOMBS HIDDEN HERE?
NO BOMBS SO FAR . . . BUT IT’S cERTAINLY SOME SORT OF TRIcK! WE MUST BE VIGILANT . . .
WHO’S THIS? IT’S YOUNG JEANNE
ABADIE!
SO, JEANNE, ARE YOU INVOLVED IN THIS PLOT? WE’RE JUST
LOOKING FOR WOOD!
HAH! ALWAYS FOR WOOD! TELL ME, JEANNE, WHAT HAPPENED THAT FIRST TIME YOU
WERE WITH BERNADETTE?
I SAW NOTHING. NOT ME!
TELL ME EVERY-THING ABOUT IT!
HMMM! IF I QUESTION THEM HERE, I DON’T NEED THEIR PARENTS’
PERMISSION. I’LL GET MORE OUT OF THEM!
THE THURSDAY BEFORE LENT . . .
FEBRUARY 11?YES. AROUND
NOON, I WENT LOOKING FOR WOOD WITH THE SOUBIROUS SISTERS . . .
“THERE WAS NONE NEAR THE cEMETERY, SO WE WENT TOWARD THE GAVE RIVER. WE PASSED THE SAVY MILL.” DON’T TOUCH
THAT WOOD!
“WE HEADED TO WHERE THE MILL-STREAM EMPTIES INTO THE RIVER.
THERE’S A GROTTO.”
I DON’T LIKE THIS PLAcE!
LOOK AT ALL THE WOOD!
YIKES!IT’S
COLD!MY
STOcK-INGS . . .
HELP ME PILE ROCKS IN THE
WATER, SO I CAN CROSS!
COME OVER LIKE WE DID!
SHE NEEDS TO HELP US.
ARE YOU COMING?
LOOK AT YOUR
SISTER!
WHAT’S TAKING SO
LONG?!
SHE’S FOOLISH TO PRAY THERE! SHE PRAYS ENOUGH
AT cHURcH!
“BERNADETTE LOOKED AT US, BUT DIDN’T ANSWER.”