Your Faith Journey with EWTN
As we deepen our relationship with the Eternal Word, Jesus Christ, we grow in grace and are transformed by His love and mercy.
May 2, 1806 – December 31, 1876
Patron Saint of seniors, sick people
As a child, St. Catherine Labouré, a French nun, received signs that God had chosen her for a special mission. In dreams and visions, a priest told her God had plans for her life. The priest who visited her was St. Vincent de Paul.
St. Catherine Labouré was a French Daughter of Charity best known for receiving the vision of the Miraculous Medal, a sacramental with widespread devotion among Catholics. Born in France in 1806, St. Catherine grew up in a devout farming family. Her mother died when St. Catherine was only nine years old, and she was sent to live with her aunt, where she began receiving signs of things to come.
Later, her father, seeking to discourage her from entering religious life, sent her to work in her uncle’s eatery for poor workers. Desiring to help the suffering poor, she discerned a nursing vocation and joined the Daughters of Charity in Paris at age 24.
Only months into her novitiate, she experienced extraordinary visions of Our Lady. In 1830, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Catherine in the convent chapel. Sitting in a chair with St. Catherine kneeling beside her, the Blessed Virgin told St. Catherine that God wished to entrust her with a mission.
Later that same year, Mary appeared again, standing on a globe. Rays of light streamed from her hands. Around her were the words: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” Our Lady instructed St. Catherine to have a medal struck with this image. Known today as the Miraculous Medal, devotion to the sacramental spread rapidly throughout the world, bringing graces and healing to countless people.
St. Catherine, of humble character, remained anonymous, revealing her visions only to her confessor, who oversaw the production and distribution of the medal. For the rest of her life, St. Catherine lived quietly in service to the elderly and infirm in her community, never seeking attention or recognition.
Living a life of obedience, silence, and service to the elderly and dying, St. Catherine of Labouré died in 1876 at the age of 70. Her body was found to be incorrupt when exhumed decades later. She was canonized in 1947 by Pope Pius XII.
St. Catherine’s confessor, Fr. Jean-Marie Alade, handled the production and distribution of the Miraculous Medal on behalf of St. Catherine. He helped her obtain approval to distribute the Miraculous Medal within two years of the Virgin Mary’s first apparition to St. Catherine. Fr. Alade was initially highly skeptical and dismissed St. Catherine’s accounts as imagination. St. Catherine persisted, and after observing her for nearly two years, Fr. Aladel became convinced of the genuineness of her visions.
In January 1832, Fr. Aladel took St. Catherine’s request to the archbishop in Paris, who was a known devotee of the Immaculate Conception. He quickly gave his approval for the medals to be made. The first 1,500 medals were struck on June 30, 1832. As reports of miraculous graces and cures from the medal spread, the archbishop initiated a formal canonical inquiry into the apparitions in 1836. The inquiry declared the apparitions and the wonders worked through the medal to be genuine.
St. Vincent de Paul was a Catholic priest in France in the 1600s. His dedication to serving the poor earned him the name of “Apostle of Charity.” He was the founder of the Daughters of Charity. St. Vincent came to St. Catherine in a dream years before the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her. His appearance served as encouragement and a foreshadowing of her future mission to serve the sick and the poor within the Daughters of Charity, as well as a spiritual preparation for her future encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary.
As a Daughter of Charity, St. Catherine dedicated 40 years to caring for the aged and dying at the Hospice d’Enghien. She also had other tasks that helped to support the community. These additional tasks included farming and caring for the farm animals. The sisters worked in silence, with obedience and humility.
This eBook combines stunning photography from EWTN’s Vatican Bureau along with Bible passages and saints’ quotes that will calm your heart, give you hope, and remind you that God is with us always. Simply fill out the form below and we will send this to you!
My Catholic Family: St. Catherine Labouré and the Miraculous Medal
“Miracle Hunter” Michael O’Neil travels to Paris, where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Catherine Labouré in 1830, resulting in the most famous and widespread Catholic medal in circulation, the Miraculous Medal.
As we deepen our relationship with the Eternal Word, Jesus Christ, we grow in grace and are transformed by His love and mercy.
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