St. Catherine Labouré

St. Catherine Labouré was born Zoé Labouré on 2 May 1806 at Fain-lès-Moutiers in Burgundy, France, and died on 31 December 1876 at Paris. The daughter of farmers, she took on the running of the household after her mother's death and felt an early call to religious life, eventually entering the Daughters of Charity, the community founded by St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac.

As a young novice in 1830, at the convent chapel on the Rue du Bac in Paris, she received a series of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary showed her the design of a medal — bearing the words 'O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee' — and asked that it be struck and spread. This became the beloved Miraculous Medal, associated with countless graces and conversions. Catherine kept her role secret for the rest of her life, living humbly and unknown in service of the aged and the poor. She was canonized in 1947.