Culture News Blog

Bernadette Soubirous, the eldest child of François Soubirous and Louise Casterot, was born Jan. 7, 1844. On Jan. 9, the first anniversary of her parents’ marriage, Bernadette was baptized in the parish church of San Pierre in Lourdes. Bernadette and four of her siblings would survive to adulthood. Four siblings would not.

Bernadette’s mother, burned in a house fire in November 1844, was unable to continue nursing Bernadette and arranged for her child to be cared for by an acquaintance, Marie Lagues, in the neighboring town of Bartres. Marie’s first baby had just died after birth. Bernadette would remain with Marie for 10 months.

Bernadette’s health was always precarious. During childhood she suffered from cholera and asthma, the latter afflicting her for the rest of her life. Her formal education suffered due to poor health and the severe poverty of her family during her childhood. By her 14th birthday, just prior to the first apparition, Bernadette had experienced none of the sacramental life of the church except baptism.

Msgr. Bertrand-Severe Laurence of Tarbes, the bishop who investigated the happenings at Lourdes in 1858 and whose affirmative judgment changed many lives and the history of the town, said, “Who could not admire, on meeting her, the simplicity, the openness, and the modesty of this child? She only spoke when she was spoken to. She spoke without exaggeration and with a touching naivety. To the many questions asked of her, she gave clear and precise answers always to the point, without hesitation and stamped with a strong conviction.

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