From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   November 28th - St. Catherine Laboure   
      
   Born at Fain-les-Moûtiers (near Dijon), Côte d'Or, France, May 2, 1806; died   
   in   
   Paris, December 31, 1876; beatified in 1933; canonized 1947; feast day   
   formerly   
   December 31.  Though Saint Catherine was called a "silly old thing" by the   
   Republic, and as "matter of fact, unexcitable, insignificant, cold, and   
   apathetic" by her superiors, you should know her story if you are one of the   
   millions of Catholics now wearing a Miraculous Medal.   
      
   She was baptized Zoë Labouré, daughter of a yeoman farmer in the Côte d'Or.   
   Without complaint she took over the running of the household at age 8, after   
   the   
   death of her mother and the departure of her elder sister, Louisa, to join   
   the   
   Sisters of Charity. After a few years, she worked as a waitress in her   
   uncle's   
   café in Paris. For this reason she was the only one in the family who never   
   learned to read or write.   
      
   From the age of 14, she felt called to the religious life, to follow her   
   elder   
   sister. Overcoming opposition from her father, she was finally allowed to   
   join   
   the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul at Châtillon-sur-Seine in   
   1830   
   (age 24), taking the name of Catherine. She was a model sister, practical,   
   and   
   unemotional by temperament.   
      
   After her postulancy, she went to a convent in the rue du Bac, Paris. She   
   arrived several days before the translation of relics of Saint Vincent from   
   Notre Dame to the Lazarist Church in rue de Sèvres.   
      
   Almost immediately she began experiencing the series of her famous visions   
   of   
   the Blessed Mother. In one of them the Blessed Virgin told Catherine that   
   within   
   her lifetime the archbishop of Paris would be brutally put to death. (This   
   indeed happened in 1871 with the death of Msgr. Darboy.)   
      
   The first of three major visions took place three months later. She was   
   awakened   
   about 11:30 p.m. on July 18 by a "shining child," who led her to the chapel.   
   Our   
   Lady appeared and talked with her for hours, telling her that she would have   
   to   
   undertake a difficult task.   
      
   On November 27, Mary appeared in the same chapel in the form of a picture,   
   standing on a globe, with shafts of light streaming from her hands,   
   surrounded   
   by the words "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse   
   to   
   thee!" The picture turned around, and on the reverse side appeared a capital   
   M   
   with a cross above it and two hearts, one thorn-crowned and one pierced with   
   a   
   sword, beneath. Catherine heard a voice asking her to have a medal struck,   
   promising that all who wore the medal would receive great graces. This or   
   similar visions were repeated several times up to September 1831. From that   
   time   
   until her death, Catherine led a life that was outwardly uneventful tending   
   the   
   sick.   
      
   Catherine confided in her confessor, Father Aladel, and he, convinced of her   
   sincerity, persuaded Archbishop de Quélen of Paris to give permission for a   
   medal to be struck. In June 1832, the first 1,500 of the millions of medals   
   to   
   be made-now known to Catholics as the 'Miraculous Medal'-were struck.   
      
   The popularity of the medal grew, especially after the conversion of   
   Alphonse   
   Ratisbonne in 1842. Alphonse was an Alsatian Jew who, having been persuaded   
   to   
   wear the medal received a vision of Our Lady in the church of Sant'Andrea   
   delle   
   Frate at Rome, became a priest, and founded the religious congregation known   
   as   
   the Fathers and Sisters of Zion.   
      
   In 1836, the archbishop initiated a canonical inquiry into the alleged   
   visions.   
   Catherine refused to appear, wishing her identity to be kept a secret. Fr.   
   Aladel pleaded to be allowed to keep her name anonymous. The tribunal,   
   basing   
   its opinion on the stability of her confessor and Catherine's character,   
   decided   
   to favor the authenticity of the visions.   
      
   After her year of extraordinary grace, Catherine was sent to the convent   
   Enghien-Reuilly on the outskirts of Paris. There Catherine served as   
   portress   
   until her death, engaging in menial tasks such as looking after the poultry   
   and   
   overseeing the aged living in the Hospice d'Enghien. Not until a few months   
   before her death did she speak to anyone about the visions except her   
   confessor;   
   she confided in her superior, Sister Dufé.   
    Her incorrupt body remains in the convent chapel at the rue du Bac, where   
   miracles were reported at her tomb (Attwater, Attwater 2, Benedictines,   
   Bentley,   
   Coulson, Delaney, Engelbert, Farmer, Walsh, White, Yves).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "And it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God, but   
   whereas   
   they lived in a great war of ignorance, they call so many and so great evils   
   peace. ... they sacrifice their own children, ... they neither keep life,   
   nor   
   marriage undefiled, but one killeth another through envy, or grieveth him by   
   adultery: And all things are mingled together, blood, murder, theft and   
   dissimulation, corruption and unfaithfulness, tumults and perjury,   
   disquieting   
   of the good. "Take away justice, and what are kingdoms but mighty bands of   
   robbers "   
   -St. Augustine (Doctor, 354-430) - "City of God"   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   "Forgetfulness of God, defiling of souls, changing of nature, disorder in   
   marriage, and the irregularity of adultery and uncleanness" ... for two   
   things   
   they shall be punished, because they have thought not well of God ... and   
   have   
   sworn unjustly in guile despising justice  (Wisdom 14:22-26)   
      
   "the land is filled with blood, and the city is filled with perverseness:   
   for   
   they have said: The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not.   
   Therefore neither shall my eye spare, nor will I have pity: I will requite   
   their   
   way upon their head"  (Ezechiel 9:9-10)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   O GOD OF ALL CONSOLATION   
   O God of all consolation, author of the salvation of souls, have pity on   
   those   
   who suffer in Purgatory, and grant them, together with entire deliverance   
   from   
   their sufferings, the happiness You promised to Your servant, Abraham and   
   his   
   posterity.   
   Be moved, O Lord, by the consideration of the fidelity with which they   
   served   
   You during life, and forget the faults which through human frailty they have   
   sometimes committed; take them from this place of punishment and darkness,   
   and   
   bring them to the place of peace and light.   
   Hear O Lord, my humble prayer, and grant this grace to those for whom I   
   pray.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)