St. Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary of Lourdes, died at the convent of Saint-Gildard in Nevers on April 16, 1879, at the age of 35. She was buried in a small oratory in the convent garden.
Thirty years later, on September 22, 1909, as part of the canonical process for her cause of beatification, her tomb was opened. In the presence of two doctors and the local bishop, her body was found completely preserved — the rosary in her hand was rusted, but her skin, hair, and features were intact.
She was exhumed again in 1919 and 1925; each time, despite the passage of additional years, the body remained essentially unchanged. After the 1925 examination, a light wax mask was made for her face and hands to spare visitors the shock of her changed skin tone, and she was placed in a glass reliquary in the chapel at Saint-Gildard, where she remains visible to pilgrims today.