Lourdes, in the middle of the last century, was a small garrison town of perhaps four or five thousand people.  Nestling at an altitude of about 420 metres in the foothills of the Pyréneés, it was dominated by its fortress or castle, a symbol of its military connections.  In fact, for two periods of over fifty years in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Lourdes was occupied by English forces.  Like many similar places in this part of the world, it was served by a swift mountain river, the Gave, which passed through the town on its westward route towards Pau, and all in all, apart from its picturesque natural surroundings, it was a most unremarkable place.  It had its own parish church and convent, a mayor and council, a hospital, a local newspaper, and a work force which consisted principally of farmers and of marble and slate quarry workers.

It was in this town that Francois Soubirous and Louise Casterot had set up their home.  They married on January 9th 1843, when he was thirty five years old and she was only nineteen years old. Francois was a miller and he went to live with his wife’s family and work at the Boly Mill in Lourdes. 

A year later, on January 7th, 1844, their first child was born, a daughter who was baptised two days later in the Parish church and given the name of Marie-Bernard, although she was always knows as Bernadette.  Madame Soubirous was to give birth eventually to nine children, of whom four boys and one girl would die before reaching the age of ten.

Due to an accident, in November 1844, during which Madame Soubirous was burned when her blouse caught fire from a lighted taper, she was unable to continue breast-feeding Bernadette.  So Bernadette was sent to Bartrès, a couple of miles outside Lourdes, where she stayed for about a year and a half to be wet-nursed by Marie Aravant Lagüe, who acted as her foster mother.

Bernadette’s father proved not to be the best of business managers, and things went from bad to worse at the mill.  In 1852 the mill was sold, although the Soubirous family had thought that they owned the property.  By 1854 Francois could no longer meet the bills and the family was evicted from the mill.  They found accommodation for a while in what today is Rue Bernadette Soubirous.

Worse was to follow.  In 1855 Lourdes was attacked by an out-break of cholera, and Bernadette fell victim to the epidemic.  Although she recovered, she developed asthma and tuberculosis, sicknesses which were to remain with her for life.