The Casterot family lived in the Boly Mill in the poor town of Lourdes which lies in the foothills of the Pyrenees. When Father Casterot died, he left his wife and daughters with their home within this working flour mill. Mother Casterot was keen to marry her eldest daughter to a man who would maintain the family wealth by taking care of the mill, home and entire family - including her - and take her husband's place as head of the household. Francois Soubirous, a local mill worker was chosen to wed the eldest Casterot daughter, Bernarde. However, he refused her in favour of her younger sister, Louise, and despite the large age gap of 18 years, Mother Casterot agreed to the marriage though Bernarde had been groomed to be the matriarch of the family was slighted to be refused by this illiterate workman which lost her inheritance and power base. Bernarde owned a tavern and lived with Francois, who had rejected her, and her youngest sister, Louise, who had been chosen over her, and her mother, who had endorsed the marriage! Within an exact year, in 1843, a little girl was born, named Marie Bernarde, known as Bernardette. Within a few months of her birth, Louise burned herself so Bernadette was sent to a wet nurse in Bartres, a considerable journey from Lourdes.
The Soubirous parents had eight more children, several of whom died. Bernadette returned to the family mill but contracted cholera in 1855, from the poor water supply and was left asthmatic. Her father was in debt; he lost the sight of one eye in an accident and the Boly Mill needed to be sold. He worked as a day labourer for less than the hire of a horse. At the age of 10, Bernadette worked as a waitress in her aunt's tavern. Her parents were said to visit there often! In 1857, her father was accused of stealing and placed in jail and, though the case was dropped, he could not find work and the entire family were forced to find shelter in the appalling 'cachot' in the Petit Fosses; a squalid, damp room once used as the Lourdes prison but unfit for prisoners who were moved to better accommodation. Her days were spent making and tending the fire, cooking and cleaning, finding wood which she could sell for a little food, bringing water, caring and attending to the needs of the younger children and her entire family. When Bernadette was fourteen, in order to reduce the number of mouths to feed, she was returned to her foster mother at a farm in Bartres to work as a shepherdess. Life outdoors being preferable to life in the cachot. Not that she earned any money but was given a little food.
Her tutor tried to teach Bernadette the catechism and beat her when she was unable to remember the answers to all the questions. Due to this lack of memory, or perhaps dyslexia, she was unable to make her first communion along with the other girls her age, dressed in white with a veil like a bride, Bernadette was forlorn.She despaired of ever knowing anything that would raise her in the eyes of those who ridiculed her and give her pride as the eldest of the Soubirous children, perhaps even restore the family fortunes. On her return to the cachot, with her younger sister and a friend, they were out one cold February morning, just before dawn, looking for bones and firewood. As her friends skipped across the Gave river, Bernadette hung back, afraid to get her clothes wet as the cold could bring on her asthma. As her they jeered at her fear, she took off her clogs and waded across the icy water. As she stood on the bank, she looked towards the mountains and saw a most wondrous sight: a lady dressed in white, with a blue sash around her waste, standing in the dark hole of the gaping mouth of the Massabeille cave. Bernadette was entranced be the beauty of the Lady.
On each occasion that Bernadette returned to the grotto, the vision appeared, but only to her. She listened to lady when she called for penance. She desired a chapel be built and that processions should come and that Bernadette should deliver these messages to the officials of the Church. Soon the whole town knew of Bernadette's visions. Going to the town dignatories was a difficult and dangerous task. She had never learnt to speak French and she was the daughter of a man with a bad reputation. She had been trespassing whilst foraging on private land. The Chief of Police threatened to throw her into jail, as her father had been in recent times, yet she was undaunted. She had faced considerable hardship in her short life, and she stood the many interrogations by the intimidating Chief of Police, by sceptical priests, by the pompous Mayor and by ambitious doctors who threatened to confine her in a psychiatric institution. But Bernadette transmitted the instructions given to her by the Lady and told the story with fortitude, natural intelligence and the quick wit of the Pyrennean peasantry.
Each time the Lady called Bernadette back to the grotto, Bernadette was followed by an ever growing number of curiosity seekers. They watched as Bernadette alone saw and heard the Lady who directed Bernadette to scratch at the ground in the corner of the cave, and to wash and drink of the water she found there. As Bernadette scratched in the ground, she uncovered a small pool of sludge and she bent down to wash her face. The Lady also instructed her to eat of the golden saxifrage that grew around the cave mouth. Onlookers though Bernadette had gone mad and were shocked to see her drinking dirty water and eating weeds, but Bernadette had lived with dirty water which often ran down the inside of the room in which the family lived and slept. She often had nothing to eat but what could be found on the forest floor.
The leading churchmen were keen to know the identity of this Lady, and told Bernadette to ask her for her name. The Lady revealed to Bernadette, "I am the Immaculate Conception". This was very controversial within the highest echelons of Vatican for if Mary was conceived immaculately, the mother of Jesus, God made man, must be a Goddess! Church officials tried to hush up the visions and took steps to cordon off the area from sightseers, and prevent Bernadette from returning there. A blind man rubbed some of the water in his eyes, and his vision improved, other miracles followed. A statue was made and placed in the grotto, but Bernadette was displeased as it bore no resemblance to her vision. The French Royal Court heard of the miraculous healings. The young Prince was unwell and the Queen sent for some of the spring water, and the Prince was healed of his illness. The miracle sealed the fate of Bernadette who could no longer be considered an ordinary girl. She was immediately instructed to work in the hospice at Lourdes where she contracted TB. After four years, she was told she must join the closed order of the Sisters of Charity at their mother house in Nevers, several days journey from Lourdes. Here Bernadette was placed under a Mother Superior Vasous lacked compassion, piety and kindness.
Mother Vasous refused to allow Bernadette to take the veil and made Bernadette prove herself by performing the most menial and physical of tasks. Eventually, Bernadette was able to take the veil with her baptismal name, Marie Bernarde. She was only four foot six inches tall as an adult but was always mature beyond her years. There femur and knee became extremely painful with TB while working in the Lourdes hospice, and she spent her latter years in excruciating pain without complaint. During her time of enclosure, the small area of muddy water had become a massive gushing spring that provided clean water for the local area that no longer suffered from cholera, a water born disease. In the nineteen years since she had left Lourdes, the Cathedral had been built, people came in their tens of thousands, and many miracles were claimed. When Sister Marie Bernarde lay dying, she was asked if she wanted to go to the grotto, to see the church processions, and take the healing waters but Bernadette replied 'the waters are not for me'. Sister Marie Bernarde, matriarch of her family in Lourdes, died at the age of 35 in 1979. When she was canonised, it was not for being chosen as the receptor and transmitter of the visions, or for never seeing her home or family again, or for her courage in the deliverance of the messages. It was for her kindness to others and her patience in adversity.
When I visited Lourdes, I was told that during many victimisations that occurred over the centuries throughout France, that Lourdes was regarded a place of safety where people fleeing persecution could rest and find sustenance for their escape across the Pyrenees. I was told a wonderful true story of Jews fleeing persecution during WWII. If they could reach Spain, they were safe. The town of Lourdes gave shelter and hospitality to many Jews, before they made the hazardous climb over the mountains. One of the men seeking shelter was a infirm Jewish artist, As he stayed many months in recovery, he painted a picture of the crucifixion of Christ that hangs in the Cathedral at Lourdes. He painted into the artwork those who had protected him, and I had the privilege of meeting some of these people when I was there. Another Jew who sought safety in Lourdes was an author, who upon hearing the story of Bernadette, pledged to write her biography. The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel was written by him in America and was his last book. He died a year after its completion and it became a best selling book and was made into a popular film. Lourdes is now the premier healing site in the world and the Boly Mill and the cachot can be seen exactly as they were in Bernadette's day.
Article:Wendy Stokes Published in Ireland's Own Visit: https://wendystokes.co.uk
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