Exiled in France in 1938 and seeking to reach Portugal via the Pyrenees, Franz Werfel found refuge for a few weeks in Lourdes. There he discovers the Story of Bernadette is a miraculous cure of which he had vaguely heard before. It was then that he made a wish. That of writing the "Bernadette song" if he managed to reach the American continent. Arriving in America in 1940, his book was published in 1941.

Of Jewish and Czech origin, the author admits to having somewhat romanticized this story which nevertheless rests on real historical facts confirmed by testimonies and which tells the story of Bernadette Soubirous to whom the Virgin Mary appeared in Lourdes in 1858.