Le Cachot — Attraction in Argelès-Gazost

Beautiful place. Amazing that the doors and windows were the ones that were there when Bernadette lived there. The only problem was that there were endless groups of children with teachers etc, but they were all, without exception, loud, laughing, having pictures taken with daft faces and fingers in the V posits. It was very hard to sit and meditate and think about how the family were all cramped in there, and was where they lived at the times of the apparitions. So if you are lucky you might catch it when it’s quiet and there aren’t loads of kids...

+JMJ Amazingly impressive and a thought-provoking visit, Sept 1998. During a week long stay at Lourdes, serving as a volunteer with a group called the Legion of Mary, I had time to visit many places affected by the life of St Bernadette and her family. Even to this day, when life becomes difficult for me, I reflect upon St Bernadette and her family making the most of living in such miserable conditions. Well, the example of St Joseph and Blessed Mother Mary in the stable with the Infant Jesus is something to...

In 1857, the mill which was run by St Bernadette's father did not make enough money and the family was evicted. They were re-housed here in the Cachot. This one room of 16 sq metres, which had formerly been a prison, served as accommodation for 6 of them. It was from here that St Bernadette went to collect wood on the occasion of the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin on 11 February 1858. The site is kept well, with some explanatory displays. It is...