Monastery Désert de l'Immaculée at Saint-Pé de Bigorre

Monastery Désert de l’Immaculée at Saint-Pé de Bigorre

Posted in Diocese of Tarbes and Lourdes, Ecclesiastical province of Toulouse, Nuns of Bethlehem

Monastery Désert

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The History of our Monastery

Situated between Lourdes (12 km away) and Bétharram (7 km away), two major pilgrimage sites to the Virgin Mary, the Monastery Désert de l’Immaculée is set in a cirque of mountains in the Pyrenean foothills.

Until 1998, Peyras, a former farm that became the Refuge Guillaumet, was home to a number of families who shared a love of God and the mountains, and were happy to share the joy of friendship with young people who were staying there for a time.
The first nuns arrived on 8 December 1998, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The barn was soon converted into a chapel, and Monsignor Perrier, then Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, consecrated it on 26 March 2001.

To help the nuns lead their life of solitude and fraternal communion, a modest cloister of caravans was set up during the summer of 2001. These caravans have now been replaced by small prefabs.

The monastery today

Construction of the hermitage cloister began in spring 2009.

The community is currently made up of 20 nuns of 6 different nationalities: Korean, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Lithuanian and Swiss.
They feel a special responsibility to pray for all those who come to Our Lady of Lourdes seeking relief and comfort.
They earn their living by making enamelled medals.

Their chapel is open to all.
Pilgrims and people wishing to seek God in silence and solitude can be welcomed for a few days in the pristine and silent beauty of the monastery.