Catherine Labouré

Labouré was born on 2 May 1806, in the Burgundy region of France to Madeleine Louise Gontard and Pierre Labouré, a farmer. She was the 9th of 11 living children.[1] Her baptismal name was Zoe,[2] but her family rarely used that name. Labouré's mother died on 9 October 1815, when Labouré was nine years old. It is said that after her mother's funeral, Labouré picked up a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and kissed it, saying, "Now you will be my mother."[3]

Her father's sister offered to care for her and her sister Marie Antoinette and the sisters moved to their aunt's house at Saint-Rémy, a village 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) from their home.[4] It is there that Catherine had a dream of a priest, whom she later recognised as Vincent de Paul. The priest said to 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!'.[5][6]

At the age of 12, Catherine returned to her father's farm to help care for her family. Later, her father, wishing to deter her from her religious vocation, sent her to Paris to work in his brothers’ eating establishment for poor workers. There, she observed their suffering and her decision to enter the nursing order of Saint Vincent de Paul, the Daughters of Charity, was reinforced.

Labouré 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 had the visions of the Virgin Mary that led to the creation of the Miraculous Medal.[7]

Plaque commemorating Catherine Labouré at 77 rue de Reuilly, Paris 12

Immediately after taking her vows, Labouré was sent to the Hospice d'Enghien, located in the village of Reuilly, which, at the time, was slightly outside the city limits of Paris. She spent the next forty years there, caring for the elderly and infirm. For this, she is called the patroness of seniors.[11]

During this time, she not only cared for the sick, but 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.[12]

Labouré died in the Hospice on December 31, 1876, at the age of 70. Her body was later moved and is now encased in glass beneath the side altar in the Chapel of Our Lady of Graces of the Miraculous Medal in 140 Rue du Bac, Paris.[13]

Her cause for sainthood was declared upon discovery that her body was incorrupt. She was beatified on May 28, 1933, by Pope Pius XI and canonized on July 27, 1947, by Pope Pius XII.[14]

Labouré's feast day is observed on November 28 according to the liturgical calendar of the Congregation of the Mission, the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris. She is listed in the Martyrologium Romanum for December 31.[15]

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  The incorrupt body of Saint Catherine Labouré
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  The Miraculous Medal of Our Lady of Graces
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  The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
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  The Our Lady of Graces Chapel's altar in Rue du Bac, Paris

• Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
• Green Scapular
• Saint Catherine Labouré, Patron Saint Archive

• Saint Catherine Labouré of the Miraculous Medal, by Joseph I Dirvin, CM, TAN Books and Publishers, Inc, 1958/84. ISBN 0-89555-242-6
• Saint Catherine Labouré and the Miraculous Medal, Alma Power-Waters, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1962. ISBN 0-89870-765-X
• The Life of Catherine Labouré, by René Laurentin, Collins, 1980. ISBN 0-00-599747-X

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Catherine Labouré.

• Joseph I. Dirvin, C.M. "St. Catherine Laboure of the Miraculous Medal". Full text of official biography.
• "Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, rue du Bac, Paris".
• "Saint Catherine Labouré: mystic and messenger of the Miraculous Medal". Invisible Monastery of charity and fraternity - Christian family prayer. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018.