Bartrès...

When St. Bernadette was a baby, she had to have a wet-nurse for a while, as her own mother was unable to breastfeed her after being badly burned in an accident. Later on, when the family were suffering dire financial hardships, Bernadette was sent back to her former foster-mother, partly to reduce the number of mouths to feed in the family, and partly so that she could benefit from good food and clean air.

Bernadette was to work for Marie Laguës, looking after the sheep and helping with Marie's own children, and, in return, Marie promised to allow Bernadette to attend school and help her learn her catechism so she could make her First Holy Communion. Bernadette's ill health following a cholera outbreak and her family's poverty had prevented her from attending school in Lourdes, and so, at the age of 13, she was still unable to read or write.

With all the work she was expected to do, Bernadette never got the chance to attend classes in Bartrès, despite the assurances which had been given. Marie herself didn't have much patience, and St. Bernadette found it difficult to learn her catechism. When the priest at Bartrès announced that he was leaving to enter religious life in a monastery, Bernadette realised that she had no chance of making her First Holy Communion if she remained at Bartrès, and she decided to return to the family home in Lourdes. Three weeks later, St. Bernadette saw Our Lady for the first time at the Grotto of Massabielle...

We were very privileged to be able to visit the parish church at Bartrès this morning, and to celebrate Mass according to the usus antiquior, the form which St. Bernadette would have experienced. The High Altar is basically the same as the one Bernadette knew, as is the tryptich of St. John the Baptist, but the church was just the single nave.

After Mass we were able to venerate a relic of St. Bernadette, and to see an example of her handwriting practice from when she was learning to write...

Sadly, the farmhouse where St. Bernadette stayed with the Laguës family was closed. I assume that they don't usually get many visitors on a Wednesday morning, as that is when the International Mass is celebrated in the Pius X Underground Basilica, and the vast majority of organised groups attend. However, I did remember that the stream where the village women would gather to wash clothes was around the corner, so we went along to have a look...