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"God chose the Foolish things of the world to shame the Wise;
God chose the Weak thing of the world to shame the Strong"
1 Corinthian 1:27

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"One must have the Capacity to love All people"

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"Every human being is precious in God's eyes"

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The Eucharist:
"The Eucharist bathes the tormented soul in light and love. Then the soul appreciates these words: 'Come all you who are sick, I will restore your health."

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Spoken by the Blessed Mother, 3rd apparition:
"I do not promise to make you happy in this world but in the next..."
Of her poverty, her illness and her lack of education, Bernadette was found comfort in the calm happiness throughout the apparitions.


St Bernadette Soubirous

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Day 07 of 14. Wednesday of Oct 2007.

On the second day at Lourdes, we had Mark, an American tour guide, led the group around the back side of town away from the basilica. The walk started with the Accueils, built in 1800s, where the sick from all over the world resided here and assigned with a caretaker, seen with sisters of St Clara Order from Italy, or other uniform volunteers in various organization. We crossed the river into of alleys to get to various sites. We stopped at the grave site first where the Soubirous were buried. The grave lot kept the all family members in one site, now looking over the congested city of Lourdes and its surrounding hills.

We kept walking to the old Prison, Cachot—a lockup place of an old jail abandoned in 1824. This was the later year of 1857, the Soubirous financially went broke, and down at the bottom of a living sink hole. The room exhibited the six family members crowding together in one place, with one window.

The last stop was the family house in the early years with the old Mill, a two story building, 1843-1854. There were more exhibits of the family history at this site, including the high society of Lourdes contrasting the rich and poor, where the Soubirous and among others clung on at the bottom of life.

We walked back into the basilica ground, not too far from the Mill house. The entire walk could be several miles round trip from out hotel, located a block from the basilica.


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ST BERNADETTE'S LIFE


Bernadette (the sobriquet by which she was universally known) was the daughter of Fran�ois Soubirous (1807-1871), a mill worker, and his wife Louise (nee Cast�rot) (1825-1866), a laundress, and was the eldest of six children who survived infancy. Louise actually gave birth to 9 children (Bernadette b. 1844 d. 1879, Jean b. 1845, d. 1845, Jean-Marie b. 1848, d. 1851, Toinette b. 1846, Jean-Marie b. 1851, Justin b. 1855, d. 1865, Bernard-Pierre b. 1859, Jean b. 1864 d. 1864 and an unnamed baby girl b. 1866, d. 1866. Bernadette was baptized at the local parish church, St. Pierre's, on January 9th, which was her parents' wedding anniversary. Bernadette's godmother was Bernarde Casterot, her mother's sister. Hard times had fallen on rural France and the family lived in extreme poverty. Neighbours reported that the family lived in unusual harmony, apparently relying on their love and support for one another and their religious devotion.


_______________HOME and BIRTHPLACE_______________
Document obtained at the Mill

The photos on display, depict people of Lourdes in 1850; we see military, civil and religious society of the time: the upper class, and the poor class, mill workers, stonemasons, peasants and laborers.

There are 2 families in the exhibits: the Casterot, master millers, resident in the Boly Mill, and the Soubirous, regular mill workers.

A marriage united these 2 families. Francois loved Louise, in spite of the age difference, and in psite of local custom that demanded he married Bernard the eldest of the family. Francois loved Louise, thus the marriage flourished.


___________The HOME at the MILL_____________

On the Upper Floor

Here is the room where Bernadette was born on January 7, 1844. She was baptized 2 days later, the day of her parent�s wedding anniversary. There is another room where the memorabilia recall: family life at the Mill, its joys and sorrow, work, meals and prayer.

On the Ground Floor

One room was used for everything and served as both kitchen and living room. By day, it was a living room and by evening a place of prayer. This was the Mill as it was known to Bernadette, the Mill whose millstones turned in the flow of Lapacca river.


____________LIFE through the YEARS____________

Failing again to meet their meager rent in May 1856, the family was this time left homeless. A cousin had pity and allowed them to stay in an abandoned prison cell that was in a building he owned. "Le Cachot" (the lock–up) was little more than 12 feet square. At this point the family was in utter poverty. With no food to eat, François was suspected of stealing two sacks of flour. Imprisoned for eight days, the charges were shortly dismissed, but he was left with a reputation as a thief.

The room was dark ... In the backyard was the privy which overflowed and made the place stink. We kept the dung–heap there ... The Soubirous were destitute: two poor beds, one on the right as you entered, and the other on the same side nearer to the fireplace ... They had only a little trunk to put all their linen in ... My wife lent them some chemises: they were full of vermin ... She often gave them a bit of bread made of millet. Yet the little ones never asked for anything. They would rather have starved." wrote André Sajous, owner of Cachot, 1875.

In the darkness of this destitution the Soubirous maintained the light of their faith. Evenings in the Cachot were spent in common prayer. They attended mass frequently, and on Sundays assisted services in the parish. Louise and François recited the rosary and taught the children to do the same. Bernadette owned rosary beads and carried them with her. Towards the end of 1857, she was again sent to her nurse in Bartrès to work as a farmhand. There would be food there and one less mouth to feed at the Cachot. However, there was no school or catechism to prepare for her first Communion. She stayed at Bartes till January 1858 just three weeks before the Apparitions.

She could not remain away from the reading lessons which would earn her the ability to complete her catechism and finally receive her first Communion. In January, 1858, at almost 14 years of age, she returned to the misery of the Cachot and entered a pauper's school where she learned in the company of 7– year–olds. Only three weeks were to pass before a desperate search for firewood led Bernadette to her first encounter with "the Lady" ...

Bernadette was able to endure this decline in social standards, and the series of setbacks and failures, because she found in the family (father, mother, brothers, sisters, godfather and mother, aunts and cousins) a stable environment, a family who love was stronger than setbacks.


____________LIFE AT THE CONVENT NEVERS__________


Disliking the attention she was attracting, Bernadette went to the hospice school run by the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction, where she finally learned to read and write. She then joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers convent moving into their motherhouse at Nevers at the age of 22. She spent the rest of her brief life there, working as an assistant in the infirmary and later as a sacristan, creating beautiful embroidery for altar cloths and vestments. She later contracted tuberculosis of the bone in the right knee. She had followed the development of Lourdes as a pilgrimage shrine while she still lived at Lourdes, but was not present for the consecration of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception there in 1876. She eventually died of her long-term illness at the age of 35 on April 16, 1879.

She was canonized on December 8, 1933, as the Catholic patron saint of sick persons, of the family, and of poverty.

The year 2009 has been declared "The Year of Bernadette".


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