[…] Here we only want to record one of the examples of the survival of this genre in the 20
th century. While it is much simpler than the above, richly elaborated models, nevertheless it is much more “physiological”, as it is based on the phenomenon of retina memory.
This means that the impression left by a long observance of a black silhouette on a white background will also continue if we close our eyes. This was the starting point of the “Bernadette Method” that spread quite rapidly since the 30s until the Second Vatican Council explicitly rejected its catechetical use.
The Salesian Bernadette sisters of Thaon-les-Vosges – and chiefly Sister Mary of Jesus – published in 1934 their first series of pictures, inspired by Father Émile Bogard. Soon they had a collection of four times hundred and fifty images on the life of Christ, the Old and New Testament, church history and Catholic teaching, and all this in the most various forms: on postcards, cartoons, games, maps and notebook covers. Meanwhile, the pedagogical use of the method was widespread and gained general acceptance. […]
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