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PODCAST. It is while collecting wood near Lourdes that the little girl sees a white lady making a sign to her from a cave: the Immaculate Conception.
Frédéric Lewino et Gwendoline Dos Santos
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On February 11, 1858, the little Bernadette Soubirous, aged 14, leaves with her younger sister Marie, called Toinette, and a friend named Jeanne, to collect wood. The three poor women ferret on the left bank of the Gave de Pau. Bernadette stays behind while her two companions cross the icy water of the Canal du Moulin. She does not want to get her feet wet because her health is fragile.
As she hesitates, a noise makes her raise her head. “Coumo u cop de bén”, she will say (“like a gust of wind”, Bernadette does not know French well, she uses Gascon Occitan). Her gaze falls on the cave of Massabielle, located above her. “I saw a lady dressed in white: she was wearing a white dress, a white veil also, a blue belt and a yellow rose on each p…