Dominique Peyramale

Abbé Dominique Peyramale (9 January 1811 – 8 September 1877) was a Catholic priest in the town of Lourdes in France during the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes to the peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. According to Bernadette, her visions occurred at the grotto of Massabielle, just outside Lourdes.

Statue of Dominique Peyramale outside the Parish Church in Lourdes

Peyramale, under instructions from his bishop, Monsignor Laurence, never visited the grotto during any of the apparitions. He therefore never saw first-hand the effects that these apparitions produced in Bernadette and the onlookers. Nevertheless, he was deeply involved in the events, interviewing Bernadette on a number of occasions. Initially convinced he was dealing with a childish prank or hoax, Peyramale was eventually convinced that Bernadette's experiences were genuine.

In popular culture

• A street in the town of Lourdes was named after him.
• In the 1943 film The Song of Bernadette, based on Franz Werfel's 1941 novel of the same name, Abbé Peyramale is portrayed by actor Charles Bickford.

See also

• Lourdes apparitions

Stained glass window in the Parish Church in Lourdes depicting an encounter between Peyramale and Saint Bernadette. At the bottom of the image is the baptismal font where Bernadette was baptised.The stained glass is by Gabriel Loire.