Saint Who?
Saints Whose Bodies Resisted Corruption
Saint Catherine Labouré
Religious († 1876)Feast: November 28
Catherine Labouré grew up in Burgundy. Devoted to Our Lady and strengthened by profound prayer, she worked tirelessly on the family farm. Her Sundays were devoted to the sick and poor. On April 21, 1830, she entered the novitiate of the Daughters of Charity, founded by Saint Vincent de Paul. Between July and December of the same year, she received a number of visions, ultimately revealing the Miraculous Medal devotion.
At first, Catherine’s confessor told her to imitate Mary’s virtues and forget such imaginations. Finally, the local bishop permitted the medal to be made (without publicising its origin), stating, “the tree shall be judged by its fruits.” The medal, with its prayer honoring the Immaculate Conception, spread like wildfire. Catherine, with a dry wit and dogged charity, remained almost totally hidden.
She died in 1876, having accurately predicted details of her death and burial. Twenty years later, a cardinal who learned about the apparitions insisted on pursuing Catherine’s canonization. “If you do not undertake it,” he told her superiors, “I shall do it myself.” Later, two ailing Vatican officials returned from retirement to offer their passionate support, stating, “the cause of Sister Catherine Labouré is the cause of the Immaculate Conception.” After her beatification, Catherine’s body was found incorrupt, her eyes still a bright blue. She was canonized in 1947.
O Immaculate Mother, bestow upon your poor children the graces stored up in the Heart of Jesus.
