For many years the chasuble was in the possession of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers (in French, the Congrégation des Sœurs de la Charité de Nevers), the Convent of St. Gildard in Nevers, France. This was the convent where St. Bernadette lived from 1866-1879 and where she died and was entombed. The chasuble was given to the sisters by Pius X.
Bernadette died at age 35 in 1866. She was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1933. It is said Pope St. Pius X had great devotion to the saint from Lourdes.
The chasable reportedly was worn several times by Pius X for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, offered by the Holy Father on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of his Sacred Ordination to the Priesthood as well as in 1908 on the 50th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes that had taken place in 1858.
Unfortunately today the convent of the sisters, founded in 1680, is devoid of nuns. It is now called the Espace Bernadette; it houses pilgrims, a visitor center, and as of late housing for migrants. There is no excuse for this convent to not be bursting at the seams with vocations. When the nuns went off the rails in the 1960s, their vocations plummeted, and it has been a slow death for them.
It is heartbreaking to see this precious relic having been given away by the sisters in about 1990 and now sold by a secular outlet online. It could have at least been kept in a display cabinet for all to see and admire. Blessed objects, especially of such historical import, should not be given away or sold to the highest bidder. Keep these treasures in the family!
