The Rue du Bac apparitions of the Virgin Mary to St. Catherine Labouré

Summary:

Catherine was the 9th of 11 living children born to Pierre Labouré and Madeleine Louise Gontard. Madeleine died prematurely in 1815, which was the first major sorrow for the 9-old girl. Catherine's education was elementary: schooling was unnecessary for a country girl, as she was expected to help with house chores and, after her mother's death, to care for the household. After two years in the care of an aunt, she returned to her father's house, where she served meals, milked cows and looked after the dovecote and henhouse.

An older sister, Marie-Louise, was soon admitted to the Daughters of Charity in Langres (Haute-Marne, France). Catherine wanted to enter the same order, but her father objected, arguing that she was needed at home. Until 1824, Catherine had no known mystical experiences. She was a devout, kind and hardworking young woman, but her piety was nothing exceptional in the eyes of her family.

Shortly before her 18th birthday, she had a dream: an elderly priest, whom she had never seen before, was celebrating Mass. At the end, he beckoned to her to come see him, but she ran away. Next, in her dream, she was visiting a sick person, she passed the old priest who had just celebrated Mass on the way. He said to her: "My daughter, it is good to care for the sick. You run away from me now, but one day you'll be happy to come to me. God has His designs on you!" But one difficulty prevented Catherine from entering religion: at 18, she could neither read nor write. Providence gave her unexpected help: a cousin of her late mother offered to take her in, where she could attend a short course at a boarding school in Paris. One day, on her way to the convent of the Daughters of Charity, she was startled when she saw the painted portrait of a priest at the entrance: it was the same priest she had seen in her dream! She was told that this man was Saint Vincent de Paul, the founder of the Daughters of Charity congregation.

In the spring of 1828, Catherine hoped to follow her older sister to the convent but her father stubbornly refused. Convinced that a stay in the capital would change his daughter's mind, he sent her to Paris to work in her brother’s restaurant for poor workers in Paris. But the following year, Catherine left the establishment and returned to her boarding school. From then on, all she could think about was being admitted to the Daughters of Charity. One of the nuns wrote to the superior: "She's a good village girl, just the way St Vincent likes them."

On 23 April 1830, she was admitted to the novitiate at the Paris convent. From the very first weeks, she had mystical visions: the "heart" of Saint Vincent de Paul appeared to her three times. It was a heart "afflicted at the sight of the evils that would befall France". The prophecy came true on the following week: on July 27, 1830, the July Revolution (also know as the Second French Revolution and the Trois Glorieuses) broke out in Paris. King Charles X was dethroned, the mobs desecrated churches, destroyed statues and threw down crucifixes and trampled them. Bishops and priests were imprisoned, beaten and killed. Shortly afterwards, Catherine had a series of perplexing visions, representing an important new period for her: "I saw Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, except for the times when I doubted." On June 6, Jesus appeared as "a king, with the cross on his chest." Catherine told only her confessor, Father Aladel, about her visions. The latter  told her that it must have been a dream and that she should try to forget about it, adding, "Don't listen to these temptations. A Daughter of Charity is made to serve the poor and not to dream", he replied with authority.

On July 18, the Virgin Mary appeared to Catherine for the first time, and gave her a message announcing imminent time of upheaval in the country and all sorts of troubles. In addition to this prophecy, which came true, the message invited her to practice constant prayer, love and self-sacrifice. The Virgin said that there would be victims among the clergy of Paris, including an archbishop. A first Paris Archbishop, Denys Affre, was killed on June 25, 1848 on the barricades in Paris, but according to St. Catherine's autograph document recounting the first apparition, the prophesied events were to take place forty years later: the archbishop to whom the Virgin was referring was Mons. Georges Darboy, who was executed on May 24, 1871, in the Roquette prison in Paris.

On November 27, 1830, Sr. Catherine saw Our Lady for the second time, after which he young novice asked for a medal to be engraved on the model of her vision, surrounded by the invocation: "O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you." Her confessor, Father Aladel, again rebuked her: "Pure illusion! If you want to honour Our Lady, imitate her virtues, and beware of your imagination!"

The third and last apparition took place in December of the same year. "You will no longer see me, but you will hear my voice during your prayers", Mary told the future saint. A month later, Catherine took her vows and received the religious habit. Immediately after that, she was sent to the Hospice d'Enghien, located in the village of Reuilly (now in the 12th arrondissement of Paris), where she impressed her community with her exemplary conduct, her fidelity to prayer, and deep piety. Her charity towards the poor and the sick, such as those affected by the cholera epidemic in 1832, made the young nun a model of self-sacrifice. However, no one knew about these apparitions, apart from her confessor.

After two years of investigation and observation, Father Aladel obtained from the Archbishop of Paris the permission to produce the medal (later known as "the miraculous medal") requested by the Virgin. The first 1,500 copies were delivered on June 30, 1832. Their distribution was an unimaginable success: in just 4 years, 2 million medals were sold; and by 1839, 10 million. It was also an unthinkable success in the United States (1836), Poland (1837), China and Russia (1838).

Famous and humble figures alike started wearing the medal, on all five continents. The Archbishop of Paris, Hyacinthe-Louis De Quélen, became a zealous propagator of the medal after personally obtaining unexplained cures with it. Pope Gregory XVI attached it to the head of his bed. In 1833, Father Jean-Gabriel Perboyre reported the miraculous cure of a fellow priest, and attributed it to the medal. Blessed Frédéric Ozanam also wore this medal when he founded the Conferences of Charity (Society of Saint Vincent de Paul). Saint John Vianney - the Curé d'Ars - acquired a statue of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in 1834 and, on May 1, 1836, he consecrated his parish to "Mary conceived without sin", becoming an ardent apostle of the medal and distributing hundreds of images with it, on which he wrote in his own handwriting the dates and names of those who consecrated themselves to the Immaculate Conception. Saint Bernadette wore this medal even before the Virgin appeared to her in 1858. Later, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux also wore it. In 1915, an American priest, Father Joseph Skelly, founded the "Marian Apostolate" in Philadelphia, with the perpetual novena to the miraculous medal. In 1917, Father Maximilien Kolbe founded the "Militia of the Immaculate", under the patronage of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, as well as a newspaper called The Knight of the Immaculata. During the war, he was busy handing out miraculous medals, saying: "They're my ammunition".

However, Catherine continued to lead a regular life - one might say a rather unremarkable one: she spent her days in the linen room, cared for the elderly, set up the henhouse, presided over the creation of a stable, and efficiently managed the budget allocated by the superior for the food and health of the convent's animals. Aside from her great energy and perfect obedience, nothing set her apart from the other sisters of her community.

When she learned, in 1858, that the Virgin had appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes (France, Hautes-Pyrénées), she simply said: "She's the same one!" Mother Dufès, the convent's superior, was astonished by a fact she couldn't explain: "Without having read any of the published works, my sister Catherine knew more about everything that had happened [at Lourdes] than the people who had made the pilgrimage."

"Why should I be afraid of going to see Our Lord, his Mother and Saint Vincent?" After saying these words, Catherine entered eternal life on December 31, 1876. In the days following her death, crowds flocked to see her lie in state in her coffin. A poor woman brought her twelve-year-old son, crippled from birth, in a wheeled box. She was unable to lower him into the burial vault, but the child miraculously stood up on his legs! Catherine was proclaimed Blessed in 1933, then raised to the altars by Pope Pius XII in 1947.

Much has been said by historians about Catherine's ignorance and simplicity. But God gave her an experiential knowledge of spiritual realities. Shortly before her death, when the convent superior finally learnt who Sister Catherine's was, and her exceptional mystical life, as if to explain that she had been nothing more than an instrument in God's hands, the future saint told her: "The Virgin chose me so that no one would doubt her." 

Several religious congregations have been placed under the protection of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, and numerous shrines, chapels and churches have been dedicated to her. The invocation "O Mary conceived without sin" was incorporated into the Catholic liturgy in 1839. Since 1847, November 27 is the feast of the Miraculous Medal (November 28 is the feast of St. Catherine Labouré). On July 26, 1897, the statue of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal ("Our Lady of the Rays") was solemnly crowned by permission of Pope Leo XIII.

Beyond reasons to believe:

Catherine was declared venerable, beatified, then canonised, not for having seen the Virgin Mary, but for having lived a perfect Christian life with heroic virtues until her last day.

Going further:

Saint Catherine Labouré of the Miraculous Medal by Joseph I. Dirvin, Farrar Straus & Cudahy (January 1, 1958)

More information:

• The Miraculous Medal: Pendant of Power by Christine Watkins, Queen of Peace Media (December 7, 2023)
• Aladel, C.M., M. (1880). The Miraculous Medal, its Origin, History, Circulation, Results. Philadelphia: H.L.Kilner & Co. pp. 2–3.
• Crapez, C.M., Edmond (1920). Venerable Sister Catherine Laboure, Sister of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul. London: Burns, Oates, & Washbourne. p. 9.
• Catholic Online. "Saint Catherine Labouré". Catholic Online. Archived from the original on September 19, 2002. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
• "St. Catherine Laboure". Catholic News Agency. November 28, 2012. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
• "St. Catherine Laboure – Saints & Angels – Catholic Online". Catholic Online.
• Article "Saint Catherine Laboure and the Miraculous Medal"