November 28 | Saint Catherine Laboure

Born: 1806

Died: 1876

Nationality: French

Vocation: religious 

Attributes: Daughters of Charity habit, miraculous medal 

Patronage: the elderly, the infirm, and the Miraculous Medal 

Canonization: 1947 by Pope Pius XII 

Catherine Laboure was born in France, the ninth of 11 children, notably at the same time the Angelus bells rang. Her special relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary began the moment she took her first breath. 

Catherine’s mother died when she was 8-years-old and the young girl took on the role of running the home. After her mother’s funeral, the little girl stood on a chair in her room to take down the statue of Our Lady sitting there. With a kiss, she told the Blessed Mother, “Now, dear Lady, you are to be my mother.”

Catherine entered the Daughters of Charity. At the age of 24, while she was a novice, the Blessed Mother appeared to her for the first time. Our Lady appeared to her again at a later time and requested that Catherine have a medal created with Mary’s image. 

After two years, Catherine convinced her spiritual director to have the medal created and 2,000 copies were made and distributed. The quickly popular medal became known as the Miraculous Medal and Mary promised that those who wear it would receive great graces. 

When Catherine stopped receiving visions, she spent the next 40 years of her life serving the elderly and sick in a convent outside of Paris. She was known for her silence and humility. Her superior did not know Catherine had received visions of Mary until the last year of Catherine’s life. 

She died at the age of 70 in Paris and her body lies incorrupt in the Chapel of Our Lady of Graces of the Miraculous Medal. 

St. Catherine Laboure, pray for us.