The history of Catherine Labouré

Catherine Labouré (1806-1876), daughter of Pierre Labouré (1787-1844) and Madeleine Gontard (1769-1813), the eighth of ten children. On October 9, 1815, her mother suddenly died. The first night without her mother, Catherine climbed up on a chair to hug the feet of the statue of the Most Holy Virgin. There are many children in the house, and little Augustin was sick due to an accident, which led her father to send Catherine and Tonine to his sister Marguerite, married to vinegar producer Antoine Jean Rod, in Saint-Remi, nine kilometers from Fain.

Two years later, in January 1818, the father became concerned about Catherine and called the two girls back. It’s a celebration because she also returns to receive her first communion on January 25th. For Catherine, it is both a joyful and profound spiritual step. Her older sister Marie-Louise, 23 years old, whose departure for the Daughters of Charity in Langres was delayed by circumstances, inspires 12-year-old Catherine, who decides to get along well with Tonine, 9½ years old:

“Go! We’ll both do the housework.”

She feels mature to bear this burden. She will be brave with the meals to serve, caring for the pigeon lofts, the chicken coop, and all else. Moreover, she is illiterate. Yet, she wishes to follow Marie-Louise. So, on the threshold of her eighteenth year, she has a dream she considers significant: an old priest celebrates Mass. He turns at the Dominus vobiscum and looks at her. The look remained etched in her memory: she will remember him for life. Leaving the church, she visits a sick person, as is her habit, but this time in a dream. The old priest encounters her and tells her: “My daughter, it is good to heal the sick; you are running away from me now, but one day you will enjoy coming to see me. God has plans for you.” She knows who he is, and this strengthens her call.

As literacy is required to enter the Sisters, she purchases a compendium: she pays 30 gold francs (all her savings) to a swindler who only teaches her how to write her name. When she turned eighteen, Antoinette Gontard, her mother’s cousin, proposed taking her to Châtillon to educate her at a renowned boarding school she managed. Brave, she accepts without saying a word.

One day, on her way to the Sisters of Charity in “rue de la Juiverie,” Catherine suddenly stops in front of a portrait at the entrance: “The priest from the dream! He exists! Who is he? The priest, Saint Vincent de Paul,” respond the sisters (he had already been canonized in 1737). Catherine made her decision, but how to do it? To enter as a postulant requires the father’s consent. There is no way to obtain permission, on the contrary, for her daughter’s baptism he had ordered a beautiful violet silk dress that will be part of her dowry. She is of age to marry; she must think about it.

On May 2, 1827, Catherine was twenty-one years old. She knows her rights and knows how to find her way. The father refuses: he has already given God one daughter, Marie-Louise. Two is too many. She perseveres. The following year, in the spring of 1828, the father changed his mind. His son Charles, settled in Paris like all others, runs a restaurant that was previously managed by his wife. She dies, two years after their marriage, on February 21. Charles needs help; Catherine will assist him and someone will eventually fall in love with the young servant girl. Fortunately for her, this love will not last. Meanwhile, her brother was consoled and remarried on February 3, 1829. Catherine is free!

When her sister Marie-Louise writes a letter enthusiastically describing her happiness in serving “the poor and suffering members of the Church of Jesus Christ,” Catherine’s desire to become a nun grows even stronger. Marie-Louise has no doubts that the letter will return to her as a boomerang, as evidenced by the fact that it will induce Catherine to leave and return to her vocation. Catherine returned to the Châtillon pension, whose intellectual and worldly environment is strange to her. But Sister Séri supports her and intercedes with her superior:

> **”She [she] is pure and pious. He does not belong among those ‘noble snobs’,”** said the sister, giving her favorable opinion to the Mother House. On January 22, Catherine received a positive response, packed her bags, and on April 21, 1830, she returned to Paris with the diligence.

> **”The training will be hard,” they told her, but she was accustomed to patience, discipline, and availability, forgetting herself completely, and ready for anything. Nothing weighs on her, and she enters the novitiate.”**

> **The apparitions from April to December 1830.**

> Catherine lived in the happiness of having found her spiritual father: Saint Vincent de Paul, whose relics are displayed in the chapel above the relic case.

> **”His [Saint Vincent de Paul’s] heart appeared to me every time I returned from Saint Lazare. I had the sweet consolation of seeing him […]. He appeared to me three times […], white as flesh […]. Then I saw red […]. And then I saw red and black”** (Life 73-74).

> These three colors represent innocence, love, and trial for her. Saint Vincent de Paul seems troubled, perhaps also by the political circumstances of the time, consoled only by the certainty that **”those two families will not die.”** Her confessor, Father Aladel, does not appreciate:

> **”Do not listen to these temptations. A daughter of charity is made to serve the poor, not to dream”** (Petite Vie de Catherine Labouré 3).

> Another revelation follows during Mass: the holy Host becomes transparent like a veil, beyond the appearance of bread:

> **”I […] saw Our Lord in the Holy Sacrament […] throughout my novitiate, except during moments when I doubted. Then the next time I did not see anything anymore because I wanted to go deeper […]. I doubted this mystery and thought I was wrong”**.

> On June 6, 1830, the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, the vision takes on darker shades:

> **”Our Lord appeared to me as a king, with a cross on His chest, in the Most Holy Sacrament […]. It seemed to me that the cross flowed [from His chest] to Our Lord’s feet and […] that Our Lord was stripped of all His adornments. Everything fell to the ground. It was at this moment that I had the darkest thoughts”**.

> At the threshold of the 1830 revolution, Catherine associates this stripping of Christ with what she expects from the king of France.

**The Apparition of Our Lady to Catherine Labouré (November 27, 1830) and the Origin of the Miraculous Medal**

On the evening of July 18, the eve of Saint Vincent’s feast day, Sister Marthe recalls the piety of the founder towards the Virgin. Catherine believes her words:

“I fell asleep thinking that on that same night I would see my Good Mother. I wanted to see Her so much!” And this is what happened: “At eleven thirty at night, I heard myself called by name: ‘My sister, my sister!’ […] I opened the curtain. I saw a boy dressed in white, about four or five years old, who told me […]. The Most Holy Virgin is waiting for you.” […] I hurried to dress and went to this child who was still standing at the foot of my bed. […] I followed him, always on my left side, as he sent bright rays of light wherever he passed. The lights were lit in all places where we passed: this surprised me a lot. But I was even more surprised when I entered the chapel… The door opened as soon as the child touched it.”

She continues:

“But my surprise was greater still when I saw all the candles and torches lit: this reminded me of midnight Mass. However, I did not see the Most Holy Virgin at all […]. As I had been waiting for a long time, I began to look to see if the women who were keeping vigil during the night were passing by the tribune. Finally, it was time, and the boy told me. He said: ‘Here is the Holy Virgin. Here she is.’ I heard a noise… like the rustling of a silk dress coming from the side of the altar […]. The child who was there told me: ‘Here is the Holy Virgin.'” It would be impossible for me to describe what I felt at that moment, what was happening inside me. It seemed to me that I did not see the Most Holy Virgin. Then, that child no longer spoke to me as a child, but as a man: with a higher tone of voice and stronger words. So, looking at the Most Holy Virgin, all I did was jump up close to Her, kneeling on the steps of the altar, my hands resting on Her knees. That was the sweetest moment of my life. It is impossible for me to describe what I felt at that moment. She told me how to behave with my director and many other things that I must not reveal. How to behave when in pain.”

> “With her right hand on the altar base, that’s where I must prostrate myself… pour out my heart,” Catherine continues. “I will receive all the consolations I need… I asked her what all those things I had seen meant. … She explained everything to me” (Life 85). Catherine doesn’t share any more of the story, but she summarizes in her October 30, 1876 autobiography: “My daughter, God wants to give you a mission. There will be sufferings, but you can overcome them knowing that you are doing it for the glory of Good God. You will know what this has to do with Good God. You will be tormented until you have told him in charge of guiding you. You will be opposed, but you will have grace. Don’t be afraid. You will see certain things. Speak with confidence and simplicity. Trust. Don’t be afraid. Pay attention to what you will see and hear… You will be inspired in your prayers, pay attention” (Life 85).

> This promise of help is followed by the announcement of misfortune: “Times are going to get worse. Misfortunes will fall upon France. The throne will be toppled. The whole world will be dominated by miseries of all kinds (the Virgin Saint seemed to be in much pain as she said this). But come to the foot of the altar. There, graces will be distributed to all who ask for them with confidence and fervor: adults and children. Graces will be distributed particularly [to] those who ask for them. My daughter, I love to spread graces within the community, especially. I love doing that, happily. … And yet, I feel pain. There are many abuses of regularity. The rules are not observed. There is a great relaxation in both communities. Tell the person responsible for taking care of you, even if it’s not a superior. He will be entrusted particularly to the community. He must do everything in his power to restore the rule in force. Tell him, on my part, that he watch over bad readings, time-wasting, and visits. When the rule returns to vigor, there will be a community that joins yours. This doesn’t usually happen. But I love all this… Tell them I welcome them. God will bless them and they will rejoice in great peace” (Life 85-86).

> “The community will rejoice in great peace. It will grow large,” Our Lady concluded, immediately adding the announcement of imminent disturbances.

**”Great misfortunes will come. The danger will be great. Yet do not fear; say, ‘Do not fear!’ God’s protection is always present in a very special way, and Saint Vincent will protect the community (the Blessed Virgin was always sad). But I myself will be with you. I have always cared for you. I will grant you many graces. There will come a time when danger will be great. People will believe all is lost. At that moment, I will be with you! Have confidence; you will receive my visit and the protection of God and Saint Vincent in both communities. Trust! Do not despair, for at that moment I will be with you. But this will not happen to other communities. There will be losses.” (The Holy Virgin had tears in her eyes as she spoke).

**”For Paris’ clergy, there will be victims: the Archbishop will die”** (tears again flow with these words) **”—in 1871.** The apparition emphasizes imminent misfortunes:

> **”My daughter,” She said, **”the Cross will be despised. It will be thrown on the ground. Blood will flow, and Our Lord’s side will be opened once more. The streets will be filled with blood. The Archbishop will be stripped of his garments”** (here, the Holy Virgin could not speak further, her face etched with pain). **”My daughter,” She continued, **”the whole world will fall into sadness.”**

In 1856 memories, Catherine recounts the end of the apparition:

> **”I don’t know how long I stayed there. All I remember is that when it began, I saw nothing but something fading, finally more than a shadow coming from the [future] bleachers [to the right], through the same path it had taken to reach me. I stood up from the altar steps and saw the Child, where I had left him. He told me: ‘She is gone.’ We took the same path, always brightly lit, and that child always on my left side. I believe this child was my guardian angel who made himself visible to show me the Blessed Virgin, because I had prayed so much for her to grant me this favor. He was dressed in white, carrying a miraculous light, i.e., he shone with light; he was between four and five years old. Back in bed, it was two o’clock in the morning… I heard the clock strike. I could not fall asleep.”**

How could Catherine, so lucid until morning, share this experience with her overly cautious confessor, M. Aladel?

To deepen your Marian devotion inspired by Catherine Labouré, consult Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation **Marialis Cultus** on the cult of Mary in the life of the Church.

Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian Apparitions, and the Master’s in Mariology.