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Parish and Lourdes (Page 1 ) |
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DATES IN THE LIFE OF ST BERNADETTE |
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| 1844
January 7th, at the Boly Mill, Lourdes (family home), birth of
Bernarde-Marie Soubirous child of François Soubirous (a miller of
some standing) and his wife Louise Casterot. January 9th. Marie-Bernarde ("she was always called "Bernadette") was baptised in the old parish church: godfather Jean Vedère, godmother her aunt Bernarde Casterot her mother's elder sister. When she was a few months old, her mother was badly burned by a falling candle and could not feed the baby. Bernadette was sent to her mother's friend Marie Laguës married to a substantial farmer in the village of Bartres, 3 km from Lourdes, who was wet-nurse to the baby (her own baby having died) where Bernadette stayed for well over a year before returning to her family in Lourdes 1854 December 8th in Rome Pope Pius IX defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception Blessed Virgin Mary. 1856 Bernadette belonged to a family of millers too trusting and generous to make a good living at the Boly Mill. The attics of many families would have remained empty if the Soubirous family had not lent a few bags of four. As always the way the number of good clients lessens while the number of those who could not pay increases. The poor results of the mill lead to financial difficulties and so in May the Soubirous family were expelled from their dwelling, and Uncle Andre Sajous arranged for them to live in the "Cachot" (an old prison cell) in Rue des Petits Fosses parents and their surviving children 'out of 9 whom 5 died in infancy lived in this one-room hovel. 1857 On March 27th Bernadette's father Francios Soubirous is imprisoned for the theft of flour. Maisongrosse, the victim. Suspected him because as he said "It was his miserable condition that made me think he was the author if the crime." He left prison on the 4th of April 1857, his case being dismissed of insufficient grounds. 1857 September, Bernadette was sent again to Bartres. Now aged 13, she could not read or write, she worked on the farm of her foster-mother, looking after the little children, working in the kitchen and minding the lambs in the sheepfold (The "bergrie": hence she has been called the "Little Shepherdess". 1858 Near the end of January she returned to Lourdes (to the Cachot) So that she could join the Class to prepare for her First Holy Communion. 1859 At 14 years of age Bernadette if a frail, delicate child. She has asthma and in 1955 had cholera which delayed growth. The eldest if four children, she is unable to attend school and is illiterate. She cannot go to catechism either and has not as yet made her first holy Communion. February
11th to July 16th 1858: the Apparitions 1.
On 11th February, a Thursday, Bernadette went with her sister and a friend
to the banks of the river Gave to collect old bones and driftwood. That
was when she saw Our Lady for the time. Bernadette made the sign of
the Cross and said the Rosary with the lady "Dressed in white with a
blue sash, and a yellow rose on each foot." Nothing was spoken. When
the prayer ended the Lady smiled and suddenly vanished.
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