Birthplace of Bernadette (Lourdes): Boly mill


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For ten years the Mill of Boly, whose name derives from the old owner, was the birthplace and serenity of Bernadette, where the Saint lived together with her parents, brothers and sister, as well as with her grandmother, uncles and cousins .


House entrance

The images present tell the inhabitants of Lourdes in 1850, its civil, military, religious society and simple people, represented by millers, quarrymen, farmers and laborers of all kinds.

The two families who lived at the Boly Mill were the Casterot, millers and masters, and the Soubirous, also millers but simple workers.


A love marriage united the two families, Francois loved Louise, despite the age difference, while he was supposed to marry his older sister Bernarde, a romantic story destined to last despite adversity.

It was a large Christian family where people prayed, where the hearts were open to others and where they gave themselves to the poor in need.

Birthplace and mill

On the first floor is the room where Bernadette was born on January 7, 1844.


The baby girl was baptized two days later, on January 9 on the occasion of her parents' wedding anniversary.

In another room, the images testify to the family life conducted at the mill, the parties and the mourning, as well as work, meals and constant prayer.

On the ground floor is the kitchen, a multipurpose common room, where people lived and prayed during the day.


This is the mill as Bernadette knew it, the water of the Lapacca stream set the heavy stone wheels in motion.

Bernadette spent the first ten years of her life here, in the simple happiness of a family that lived in faith and love.

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The father and mother Francois Soubirous and Louise Casterot had had a love marriage, consecrated by the sacrament on January 9, 1843.

In this climate of great tenderness, Bernadette found the source of that strength and that psychological balance that gave her the courage to face the difficult moments of her life.

For ten years the Soubirous family experienced a certain ease, but from 1853 onwards great economic difficulties began.

Mill crisis

The competition from the steam mills, the drought of the region and the great generosity towards the poor, in addition to the inability to demand the balance of accounts from those who did not pay, endangered the family business.

In the spring of 1854, no longer able to pay the rent, the Soubirous were forced to leave the Mill of Happiness and look for one for which a lower rent was required.

Cholera epidemic and famine

In 1855, cholera killed 38 people in Lourdes in just five weeks, and Bernadette was also affected by the epidemic, which caused her to become debilitating asthma.

In 1856 the famine raged across the region and for this reason the government decided to distribute the flour free of charge.


For Bernadette's father came bankruptcy, the need to look for work elsewhere and often unemployment.

The mother was also forced to go out to work after the death of two of her young children. During this period Bernadette was a waitress in a tavern and for this reason she did not have the opportunity to attend school and catechism.

In 1857 the family was no longer in a position to pay a rent and took refuge for free in the old prison of the city, where, on March 27 of the same year, Francois Soubirous was arrested and put in prison, wrongfully accused of stealing flour.

In November 1857 Bernadette was hired as a maid on a farm in Bartres, where she remained until January 1858, three weeks before the Marian Apparitions.

Bernadette had the strength to overcome these difficulties thanks to the strong family union, where love prevailed over the unexpected events created by fate.

Lessons from Lourdes: Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette (March 2024)


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