Catherine Labouré - Her life

Catherine was born on May 2, 1806 in a farming family in Fain-les-Moutiers, south-west of Montbard. She was the eighth child of a family of ten.
Her mother, Madeleine, died at 42 years of age when Catherine was 9 years old. It was at this moment that Catherine sought refuge in the boundless love of Mary “It is you that I choose as my Mother”, Catherine said to Mary.

Louise, Catherine’s older sister, was a Daughter of Charity and Catherine was in contact with the Sisters at the Hospice of Moutiers-Saint-Jean. She was then 22 years old. Being so near the Daughters of Charity, she thought about entering that Community. The time had come for Catherine to talk to her father about her vocation. His response was instantaneous and formal: "You will not leave!" Pierre wanted to turn his daughter's attention away from her plans at any price. Perhaps a stay in Paris with his son, Charles, who owned a middle-class restaurant, might make her change her mind.

After much hesitation, her father finally gave his consent. On April 21, 1830, Catherine began her Seminary (novitiate) at the Motherhouse in the rue du Bac in Paris. It was here in the chapel that the Apparitions of Our Lady took place.
A short time after completing her formation her Superiors appointed her to a home for the elderly at Enghien, Reuilly in Paris. She spent the remainder of her life there.The apparitions were an inspiration to Sister Catherine's life of service. The Virgin Mary had revealed to her the face of God in those who suffered.

Catherine had apparitions, but her holiness flowed from her ability to see Christ in daily life: especially in the poor:

"I was hungry and you gave me to eat ...
I was sick and in prison and you visited me ...
As often as you did it for one
of the least of my brothers and sisters,
you did it for me."
(Mathew 25:37-41)


 Sister Catherine spent 46 years of her life at Reuilly, in humility and service of the elderly. She was truly, as Pius XII declared at the time of her Canonization:

"The Saint who lived a dutiful life and silent life!" At her death in 1876, she was buried in a tomb under the chapel of the House of Reuilly. In 1933, her body was placed in a reliquary under Our Lady's Altar at rue du Bac. She is wearing the habit worn by the Daughters until 1964.


Taken from The Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul