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Bernadette's Face
Gerard, Bernadette's face is indeed a wax mask over her actual features. I've read this in Roman Catholic sources.
I'm not entirely certain about the hands, but I think they're also covered with wax.
Many people believe this is also true of Vladimir Lenin's corpse there in its grey mausoleum on Moscow's Red Square. But the Russian government traditionally always denied this.
But one of the things speaking in favor of a waxen Lenin is that when Lenin's body was first put on public display (in 1924, if memory serves) it quicky fell into decay. Taken away for "re-embalming" it was many months later returned for viewing as "good as new." (Some surely would say "as bad as new.")
And, NO, I am most assuredly NOT trying to compare Bernadette with Lenin. Far from it.
Gerard, Bernadette's face is indeed a wax mask over her actual features. I've read this in Roman Catholic sources.
I'm not entirely certain about the hands, but I think they're also covered with wax.
Many people believe this is also true of Vladimir Lenin's corpse there in its grey mausoleum on Moscow's Red Square. But the Russian government traditionally always denied this.
But one of the things speaking in favor of a waxen Lenin is that when Lenin's body was first put on public display (in 1924, if memory serves) it quicky fell into decay. Taken away for "re-embalming" it was many months later returned for viewing as "good as new." (Some surely would say "as bad as new.")
And, NO, I am most assuredly NOT trying to compare Bernadette with Lenin. Far from it.