« That jeudi-gras (fat thursday) was cold and dark. After dinner, our mother said there was no wood left in the house and was upset about it. To please her, my sister Toinette and I proposed ourselves to go and pick up some branches by the river. Our mother refused because the weather was too bad and we might fall into the river. Jeanne Abadie, our neighbour and friend, who was looking after her younger brother at home and wanted to come along with us brought him back at her place and came back a moment after to tell us she was allowed to come with us. My mother was begged again, but in front of us three let us go. »

We know what happened after that. : Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary appear in front of her on February 1858. But some have not read « Intimated souvenirs » from witness Jean-Baptiste Estrade this text is an extract of yet.

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Extract from : Estrade, J.-B. .- Les Apparitions de Lourdes, souvenirs intimes d'un témoin , par J.-B. Estrade, … .- A. Mame et fils (Tours), 1908. - Médiathèque André Labarrère Pau – fonds anciens – Usine des Tramways - cote E 6477.
online on Gallica (edition 1899)