November 28 + Saint Catherine Laboure

Catherine Laboure was born in 1806 in Fainles-Moutiers, a lovely village in the Cote d’Or of Burgundy, France. At the age of 9 her mother died and at her funeral, Catherine picked up a statue of the Virgin Mary, kissed it and said, “Now you will be my mother.”

Her father, wishing to deter her from a religious vocation, sent her to Paris to work in his brothers’ eating establishment for poor workers. There she observed their suffering and desired a life as a nurse with the Daughters of Charity. Catherine began her novitiate in 1830 at the convent on the Rue du Bac in Paris and also that year, began a series of visitations from the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On July 18, the first apparition occurred and Catherine beheld the Blessed Virgin Mary seated on the right side of the sanctuary. Mary told Catherine how to act in time of trial and pointed to the altar as the source of all consolation. Promising to entrust Catherine with a mission which would cause her great suffering.

On November 27, Mary again appeared to Catherine and commissioned Catherine to have her image made into a medal, now universally known as the Miraculous Medal. At that time, only her spiritual director Father Aladel, knew of the apparitions. Forty-five years later, Catherine spoke fully of the apparitions to one of her superiors.

Catherine quietly died on December 31, 1876. On May 28, 1933, she was beatified in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. As part of the Canonization process, the body of the Saint had to be identified. In a solemn procession, her coffin was removed from the vault and in the presence of the Archbishop of Paris, civil officials, and various doctors, the coffin was opened. They were stunned at what they witnessed. The body of Catherine Laboure had been in the coffin for 57 years and yet, she had not decayed in the slightest. It was as if she were still alive and simply sleeping peacefully. She was canonized in 1947.

Today, over 140 years later, she is still perfectly preserved by supernatural means as a totally incorrupt body and can be viewed (enclosed by glass) at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Paris, France.