Saint of the Day - Catherine Labouré (November 28th)
Channel: House of Prayers for Everyone (HOPE)
Date: 2023-11-27

Catherine Labouré was a French member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and a Marian visionary. The Catholic Church remembers her feast day every Nov. 28.

Early Life

Catherine was born on 2 May 1806, in the Burgundy region of France. She was the 9th of 11 living children of Madeleine Louise Gontard and Pierre Labouré. Her baptismal name was Zoe, but her family rarely used that name.

Her mother died when she was 9. It is said that after her mother's funeral, the young Catherine picked up a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and kissed it, saying, "Now you will be my mother."

Her father's sister took care of her and her sister Marie Antoinette. It is there that Catherine had a dream of a priest who told her: 'My daughter, it is good to care for the sick. For now, you flee from me, but one day you will be glad to approach me. God has plans for you. Don't forget it!'.

She later recognized the priest as Vincent de Paul.

Daughters of Charity

Her father later sent her to Paris to work in his brothers’ food establishment for poor workers. She saw their suffering and her decision to enter the nursing order of Saint Vincent de Paul, the Daughters of Charity, was reinforced.

Catherine began her novitiate on April 21, 1830, at the convent on the Rue du Bac in Paris, and on January 30, 1831, she took her vows. It is at this Convent that she will later have the visions of the Virgin Mary that led to the creation of the Miraculous Medal.

Vision of Vincent de Paul

In April 1830, the remains of Vincent de Paul were translated to the Vincentian church in Paris. On three successive evenings, Catherine reportedly experienced a vision of what she took to be the heart of de Paul above a shrine containing a relic of bone from his right arm.

Each time the heart appeared a different color: white, red, and black. She interpreted this to mean that the Vincentian communities would prosper and that there would be a change of government.

Visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary

On July 19, 1830, she had a vision of the Virgin Mary telling her, "God wishes to charge you with a mission. You will be contradicted, but do not fear; you will have the grace to do what is necessary. Tell your spiritual director all that passes within you. Times are evil in France and in the world".

On Nov. 27, 1830, Catherine had another vision of the Virgin Mary inside an oval frame standing upon a globe; rays of light came out of her hands in the direction of a globe, and written around the margin of the frame "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." 

As she watched, the frame seemed to rotate, showing a circle of twelve stars, a large letter M surmounted by a cross, and the stylized Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary underneath. 

Asked why some of the rays of light did not reach the earth, the Virgin Mother replied, "Those are the graces for which people forget to ask." Mary then asked her to take these images to her father-confessor and for everyone to put on medallions. "All who wear them will receive great graces."

After two years of observing her normal daily behavior, the father-confessor brought this to the archbishop who approved the request. The design of the medallions was commissioned through French goldsmith Adrien Vachette.

The Miraculous Medal was quickly adopted by millions of the Catholic faithful. It also played an important role in the proclamation by Pope Pius IX of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, 1854.

Service to the Poor and Elderly

Since taking her vows, Catherine was sent to the Hospice d'Enghien and spent the next forty years caring for the elderly and the sick. She also worked on the hospice's farm, looked after the poultry, and cleaned the stables.

Her life was notable for her devotion to the poor and elderly and for her humility and profound silence.

Death and Legacy

Catherine died in the Hospice on Dec. 31, 1876. Her cause for sainthood was declared upon discovery that her body was incorrupt.

Her body was later encased in glass beneath the side altar in the Chapel of Our Lady of Graces of the Miraculous Medal in Rue du Bac, Paris. She was beatified on May 28, 1933, by Pope Pius XI and canonized on July 27, 1947, by Pope Pius XII.

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Images attributed to the following:
- By Unknown author - Unknown source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31595898
- By Unidentified photographer - http://www.stcatherinelaboure.ie/images/St%20Catherine/St_Catherine_2.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9949292