Flora Cantábrica

Saint Catherine Labouré Religious

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Saint Catherine Labouré
Religious
Year 1876
O Mary conceived without sin:
Pray for us who have recourse to you. This was the saint who had the honor of having the Blessed Virgin appear to her and recommend that she make the Miraculous Medal.
She was born in France to a peasant family in 1806. When her mother died at the age of 8, she entrusted the Blessed Virgin to serve as her mother, and the Mother of God accepted her request.
Since her older sister became a Vincentian nun, Catherine had to take charge of the kitchen and laundry in her father’s house, and as a result, she was unable to learn to read or write.
At the age of 14, she asked her father to allow her to become a nun in a convent, but he, who needed her to attend to the many tasks of the house, refused. She prayed to Our Lord to grant her what she so desired: to become a nun. And one night in a dream, she saw an elderly priest who said to her: «One day you will help me care for the sick.» The image of that priest remained forever etched in her memory.
Finally, at the age of 24, she persuaded her father to let her visit the nun. When she arrived at the convent hall, she saw the portrait of Saint Vincent de Paul and realized that this was the priest she had seen in her dreams, who had invited her to help him care for the sick. From that day on, she decided to become a Vincentian sister, and she persisted so much that she was finally accepted into the community.
When Catherine was a young nun, she had some apparitions that have made her famous throughout the Church. In the first, one night while she was in her dormitory, she felt a beautiful child inviting her to go to the chapel. She followed him there, and he led her to the image of the Blessed Virgin. That night, Our Lady informed her of several future events that would happen in the Catholic Church and recommended that the month of May be celebrated with greater fervor in honor of the Mother of God. Catherine always believed that the child who had guided her was her guardian angel.
But the most famous apparition was that of November 27, 1830. While she was in the chapel at night, she suddenly saw the Blessed Virgin appear to her completely resplendent, shedding beautiful rays of light from her hands toward the earth. She instructed her to make an image of Our Lady just as she had appeared to her and to commission a medal bearing the Virgin Mary’s initials on one side and a cross, with the phrase «O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.» He promised very special help for those who would wear this medal and recite this prayer.
The Archbishop gave her permission to make the medals, and then the miracles began. People began to realize that those who wore the medal with devotion and recited the prayer, «O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee,» received tremendous favors, and everyone began to ask for the medal and wear it. Even the Emperor of France wore it, and so did his high-ranking employees.
In Paris, there was a Freemason who was very far removed from religion. This man’s daughter persuaded him to wear the Medal of the Miraculous Virgin around his neck, and soon the Freemason requested a visit from a priest, renounced his Masonic errors, and ended his days as a Catholic believer.
Catherine asked the Blessed Virgin why, of the luminous rays that issue from her hands, some are cut off and do not fall to earth. She replied: «Those rays that do not fall to earth represent the many favors and graces I would like to grant to people, but they remain ungranted because people do not ask for them.» And he added: «Many graces and heavenly aids are not obtained unless they are asked for.»

In 1842, a case occurred that made the Miraculous Medal even more popular. It happened as follows: the wealthy Jew, Regensburg, was very kindly hosted by a Catholic family in Rome. As a sole payment for his many courtesies, they asked him to wear the Miraculous Medal around his neck for a time. He accepted this as a gesture of affection for his friends, and went to visit the temple as a tourist. There, suddenly, in front of an altar of Our Lady, he saw the Blessed Virgin appear and smile upon him. This was enough for him to convert to Catholicism and dedicate the rest of his life to spreading the Catholic religion and devotion to the Mother of God. This admirable conversion was known and admired throughout the world and contributed to thousands and thousands of people also beginning to wear the Medal of Our Lady (what obtains favors from God is not the medal, which is a dead metal, but our faith and the demonstration of affection we show to the Holy Virgin by carrying her sacred image).
From 1830, the date of the apparitions, until 1876, the date of her death, Catherine was in the convent without anyone realizing that she was the one being apparited.
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