The Body of Saint Catherine Labouré

Catherine Labouré was a farmer’s daughter from Burgundy who entered the Daughters of Charity in Paris in 1830. That year, in the chapel of their motherhouse on the Rue du Bac, the Virgin Mary appeared to her several times. On the night of 18 July Catherine was led to the chapel by a child and spoke with Our Lady, who was seated in a chair beside the altar. On 27 November Mary showed her the design of a medal, with the words: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” “All who wear it,” she said, “will receive great graces.”

The medal was struck in 1832, and so many graces were reported that people soon called it the Miraculous Medal. Catherine kept her secret. For forty-six years she worked quietly in a home for elderly men in the suburbs of Paris, looking after the poultry and the door, and only her confessor knew who she was. She died on 31 December 1876.

When her body was exhumed in 1933 for her beatification, it was found incorrupt. It now lies in a glass reliquary beneath the altar of Our Lady of the Globe, in the chapel where she saw the Virgin. The chair where Our Lady sat is kept there too. The chapel also holds the body of Saint Louise de Marillac, co-foundress of the Daughters of Charity. Catherine was canonized in 1947, and her feast day is 28 November.

Where

Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Rue du Bac, Paris, France

When to see it

In a glass reliquary in the chapel, open daily.

Map

Find it on OpenStreetMap