Chapter IX (2)

Sister Catherine was, then, the soul of the little family in charge of the hospital. During these later years, the number of our Sisters had increased considerably, and consequently the administration of the two houses, d'Enghien and Reuilly, being very difficult for one person, an assistant was sent me for the hospital. If Sister Catherine had not for years been moulded to obedience and abnegation, it would have been hard to her quick, impulsive nature, to recognize the authority of a companion so much younger than herself; but far different were the thoughts of this humble Sister, who always endeavored to abase herself.

"She was the first to tender her perfect submission. 'Sister,'
said she, 'be at ease, it suffices that our Superiors have
spoken; we will receive Sister Angélique as one sent from God,
and obey her as we do you.' Her conduct justified her words.

"Although Sister Catherine guarded rigorously the supernatural
communications she had received, she occasionally expressed her
views to me on actual occurrences, speaking then as if inspired
by God.

"Thus, at the time of the Commune, she told me that I would
leave the house accompanied by a certain Sister, that I would
return the 31st of May, and she assured me I need have no
fears, as the Blessed Virgin would take my place and guard the
house. At the time, I paid very little attention to the good
Sister's words.

"I left, indeed, and realized, contrary to my plans, and
without a thought on the subject, all that Sister Catherine
had predicted. On my return from the Community, May 31st, I
expressed my anxiety concerning the house, which had been in
the hands of the Communists, and, it was said, plundered.
Sister Catherine endeavored to reassure me, repeating that the
Blessed Virgin had taken care of everything, she was confident
of it, for the Blessed Virgin had promised her.

"We found on our arrival that this Mother of mercy had, indeed,
guarded and saved all, notwithstanding the long occupation of
our dear house by a mob of furies, whose Satanic pleasure was
to destroy.

"One circumstance in particular struck me most forcibly; these
wretches had made useless efforts to overthrow the statue of
Mary Immaculate placed in the garden--it had withstood all
their sacrilegious attempts.

"Sister Catherine hastened to place upon the head of our august
Queen the crown she had taken with her in our exile, telling
the Blessed Virgin she restored it in token of gratitude.

"Many times did Sister Catherine thus reveal her thoughts to
me with the simplicity of a child. When her predictions were
not realized, she would quietly say: 'Ah! well, Sister, I was
mistaken. I believed what I told you. I am very glad the truth
is known.'[6]

[Footnote 6: Persons favored with supernatural communications
are not thereby preserved from error. They may be deceived in
misunderstanding what they see or hear, they may be duped by
the illusions of the demon, they may involuntarily mingle their
own ideas with those which come from God, and they may fail in
transmitting with accuracy what has been revealed to them. We
must also remark that prophecies are frequently conditional,
and their accomplishment depends upon the manner in which the
conditions are fulfilled; so that, when the Church approves
these private revelations, she does nothing more than declare
that, after grave examination, they may be published for the
edification of the faithful, and that the proofs given are
sufficient to ensure belief.

To the Sacred Writers alone belongs the privilege of
infallibility in receiving and transmitting divine
inspirations.]

"Meanwhile, time fled, and our good Sister often spoke of her
approaching end. Our venerated Superiors began to feel anxious
about losing her, and the Superior General one day sent for
her to come to the Community that he might receive from her own
lips certain communications which he considered very important.

"Sister Catherine, to whom this was wholly unexpected, was
almost speechless with amazement. On her return, she expressed
to me her emotion, and, for the first time, opened her heart
to me concerning that which she had formerly so much feared to
reveal.

"This repugnance had vanished; seeing herself on the borders
of the tomb, she felt constrained to make known the details
which she thought buried with the venerated Father Aladel,
and she expressed great grief that devotion to the Immaculate
Conception was less lively and general than it had been.

"These communications, moreover, were for myself alone; I
did not impart them to the other Sisters. It is true, the
greater number were informed of this pious secret, but they
never learned it from Sister Catherine herself. All they could
observe in connexion with it was her ardent love for Mary
Immaculate and her zeal for the propagation of the Miraculous
Medal, also that, when she heard one of our Sisters express
a desire to make the pilgrimage to Lourdes or some other
privileged sanctuary of Mary, she could not refrain from
saying, somewhat impetuously: 'But why do you wish to go so
far? Have you not the Community? Did not the Blessed Virgin
appear there as well as at Lourdes?' And a most extraordinary
fact is, that, without having read any of the publications
concerning this miraculous grotto, Sister Catherine was more
familiar with what had taken place there than many who had made
the pilgrimage. Leaving these incidents aside, never did she
utter a word calculated to give the impression that she had
any part in the singular favors the Blessed Virgin had lavished
upon our humble chapel at the Mother House.

"Since opening her heart to me, this good companion had become
very affectionate; it was a rest for her, a consolation to
find some one who understood her. Our worthy Father Chevalier,
Assistant of the Congregation of the Mission, occasionally
visited her to receive her communications concerning the
apparition. One day, he spoke to her of the new edition he was
preparing of the notice of the medal. 'When M. Aladel's edition
of 1842 appeared,' replied Sister Catherine, 'I said to him,
truly, that he would never publish another, and that I would
never see another edition, because it would not be finished
during my lifetime.' 'I shall catch you there,' replied M.
Chevalier, who expected it to appear very soon. But unforeseen
difficulties having retarded the publication, he subsequently
recognized that the good Sister had spoken rightly.

"From the beginning of the year 1876, Sister Catherine alluded
very frequently to her death; on all our feast days, she never
failed to say: 'It is the last time I shall see this feast.'
And when we appeared not to credit her assertion, she added: 'I
shall certainly not see the year 1877.' We could not, however,
believe her end so near. For some months she had been obliged
to keep her bed, and relinquish that active life she had led so
many years.

"Her strength was gradually failing; the asthma joined to some
affection of the heart undermined her constitution; she felt
that she was dying, but it was without a fear, we might say
without emotion. One day, when speaking to her of her death:
'You are not afraid, then,' said I, 'dear Sister Catherine.'
'Afraid! Sister!' she exclaimed; 'why should I be afraid? I am
going to our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, St. Vincent.'

"And, truly, our dear companion had nothing to fear, for her
death was as calm as her life.

"Several days previous, one of our Sisters was talking
familiarly with her, when, without any allusion to the subject
from the other, our sick Sister said: 'I shall go to Reuilly.'
This was the name given the House of Providence, separated
from d'Enghien Hospital by a vast garden, and similar to it
in the nature of its works. 'What! to Reuilly?' answered her
companion; 'you would not have the heart to do so, you who love
so well your Enghien, that you have never left.' 'I tell you, I
shall go to Reuilly.' 'But when?' 'Ah! that is it!' said Sister
Catherine, in a decided, mysterious tone, that disconcerted
her companion. After a few moments, she added: 'There will be
no need of a hearse at my funeral.' 'Oh! what do you mean?'
replied the Sister. 'It will not be needed,' said the sick one,
emphatically. 'But why not?' 'They will put me in the chapel at
Reuilly.' These words struck her companion, who repeated the
conversation to me. 'Keep that to yourself,' said I.

"On the 31st of December, she had several spells of weakness,
symptoms of her approaching end. We then proposed to her the
last consolations of religion; she gratefully consented, and
received the Sacraments with indescribable peace and happiness;
then, at her request, we recited the litany of the Immaculate
Conception.

"Being one day near her bed, speaking to her of Heaven and
of the Blessed Virgin, she expressed a desire to have during
her agony sixty-three children, each invoking the Blessed
Virgin by one of her titles in the litany of the Immaculate
Conception, and especially these very consoling words: 'Terror
of demons, pray for us.' It was observed that there were not
sixty-three invocations in the litany. 'You will find them in
the office of the Immaculate Conception,' said she. Measures
were taken to comply with her desires, the invocations were
written upon slips of paper and kept for the final hour,
but, just at the time of her agony, we could not collect the
children; she then asked that the litany be recited, and had us
repeat three times the invocation which makes hell tremble.

"Our Sisters were especially touched to hear her exclaim, with
an accent of deep tenderness: 'My dear Community! my dear
Mother House!' So true is it, that what we have loved most in
life returns to us with renewed vigor at the hour of death!

"Some of her former companions and friends of the House came
during the day to see her for a last time; one of them,
holding an office in the Seminary, approaching her, said
sadly: 'Sister Catherine, are you going to leave us without
telling me a word of the Blessed Virgin?' Then the dying
Sister leaned towards her, and whispered softly in her ear
quite a while. 'I ought not to speak,' said she; 'it is M.
Chevalier who is commissioned to do that.' ... She continued,
without interruption: 'The Blessed Virgin has promised to
grant especial graces every time one prays in the chapel, but
particularly an increase of purity, that purity of mind, heart,
will, which is pure love.'

"This good daughter, animated with the true primitive spirit
of the Community, was, in uttering these last words, the
unconscious echo of the venerable Mother Legras, whose writings
breathe the same thought.

"A Sister-Servant, who came to visit her, approaching the sick
Sister, reminded her of the necessities of the Community and
of the Seminary, and ended by saying: 'Dear Sister Catherine,
when you get to Heaven, do not forget all this, attend to all
my commissions.' Sister Catherine answered: 'Sister, my will is
good, but I have always been so stupid, so dull, I shall not
know how to explain myself, for I am ignorant of the language
of Heaven.' Upon which the other, delighted with so much
simplicity, was inspired to say: 'Oh! my dear Sister Catherine,
in Heaven we do not speak as we do on earth; the soul regards
God, the good God regards the soul, and all is understood--that
is the language of Heaven.' Our dear Sister's countenance
became radiant at this, and she answered: 'Oh! Sister, if it is
thus, be tranquil, all your commissions will be fulfilled.'

"M. Chevalier came, also, that day to give her his blessing,
and he spoke to her on the same subject. Sister Catherine
answered him with faculties undimmed, and said to him, among
other things: 'The pilgrimages the Sisters make are not
favorable to piety. The Blessed Virgin did not tell me to go
so far to pray; it is in the Community chapel she wishes the
Sisters to invoke her, that is their true pilgrimage.'

"The poor, to whom she was so devoted, likewise occupied her
thoughts.----

"At four in the afternoon, another attack of weakness collected
us all around our dear, dying one, but the supreme moment had
not yet come. We surrounded her bed until evening. At seven,
she seemed to sink into a slumber, and without the least agony
or the least sign of suffering, she yielded her last sigh.
Scarcely could we perceive that she had ceased to live....
Never have I seen a death so calm and gentle."

"The deepest emotion now filled our hearts; we pondered the
celestial interview of our blessed companion with that good God
who had so often revealed Himself to her during her Seminary
life, and that beautiful Virgin, whose charms can never be
depicted on earth.

"It was not sorrow which pervaded our hearts; not a tear was
shed in these first moments; we yielded to an indescribable
emotion; we felt ourselves near a Saint; the veil of humility
under which she had lived so long concealed was now rent, that
we might see in her only the soul favored by Heaven.

"Our Sisters disputed the happiness of passing the night beside
her venerated remains, a magnetic attraction drawing them to
her.

"To perpetuate the fact that she had received these favors
whilst still a Seminary Sister, we thought of having her
photograph taken, also, in the Seminary habit; it succeeded
completely in both costumes.

"We now carried her blessed remains into the chapel. There
the Immaculate Virgin watched over her; lilies and roses
surrounded her virginal body, and her cherished device--'O
Mary! conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to
thee'--surrounding this little sanctuary, seemed the last echo
of her life.

"Then commenced the miracle of glorified humility; this
humble Sister, who in life had been scarcely noticed, was
suddenly surrounded by persons of every age and condition, who
considered it a very great happiness to come, not to pray for
her, but to recommend themselves to her blessed intercession.

"As for us who were keeping watch around our dear relic, we
could not bear to think of the moment which would take her
from us. This house which had been protected by her presence
for forty-six years, would it be deprived of her forever? The
thought was heart-breaking; it seemed as if we were about
to lose the protection of the Immaculate Virgin, who would
henceforth cease to hover over us.

"On the other hand, to keep our dear Sister with us appeared
impossible. Our Superiors being consulted, permitted us to
take measures in accordance with our wishes. We had a world of
difficulties to surmount.

"'Pray,' said I to our Sisters; and they passed the night
supplicating the Immaculate Mary to let our beloved companion
remain with us.

"All night long, I vainly tried to think of a suitable resting
place for her, when suddenly, at the sound of the four o'clock
bell, I thought I heard these words: 'The vault is under the
chapel of Reuilly.' 'True enough,' said I, joyfully, like a
person who suddenly sees the realization of a long deferred
hope. I remembered now that, during the construction of the
chapel, a vault had been made communicating with the children's
refectory. Our worthy Mother Mazin had assigned to it no actual
purpose, saying we might have use for it hereafter.

"There was no time to lose. We were on the eve of her funeral,
and the authorization, so difficult to obtain, had not yet been
solicited.

"The vault was hastily prepared, and the petition, sustained by
influential persons, succeeded as if by enchantment.

"January 3d, the feast of St. Genevieve, was the day appointed
for the interment of her, whom we regarded as the tutelary
angel of our house. But the word 'interment' is not appropriate
here--'triumph' is the proper expression--for it was a
veritable triumph for our humble Sister.

"A deputation was sent from all the houses of our Sisters, that
had received timely notice, and the little chapel was much too
small to accommodate the numbers that came. Mass over, the
funeral cortege which was to accompany the body in procession
from d'Enghien Hospital to the vault at Reuilly was organized,
as follows: The inmates of our industrial school, Children of
Mary, came first, bearing their banner; next to these, all our
little orphans; then, our young girls of the Society (both
externs and those belonging to the house), wearing the livery
of the Immaculate Mary; the parishioners, and lastly, our
Sisters preceding the clergy.

"This lengthy procession passed slowly through the long garden
walk, and whilst the solemn chants of the Benedictus resounded
afar, the modest coffin appeared in sight, covered with lilies
and eglantines, emblems of purity and simplicity.

"At the entrance of the vault, the crowd stood aside, and our
Children of Mary greeted the arrival of the body by singing the
blessed invocation: 'O Mary! conceived without sin, pray for us
who have recourse to thee!' It would be impossible to describe
the effect of these funeral obsequies, of a nature so entirely
new.

"To preserve our treasure, it was necessary to wall up the
subterranean entrance, but we had an opening made communicating
with the chapel.

"The poor, whom Sister Catherine had nursed, lay a magnificent
crown on the tomb of St. Vincent's humble daughter, who, in
life, sought only the lowliest paths, and who had supplicated
the Blessed Virgin to keep her unknown and unsought."----

The life of dear Sister Labouré was the faithful realization of Our Lord's words in the Gospel: "I return Thee thanks, Father, that Thou hast concealed these things from the wise of this world and hast revealed them to little ones." Never were the gifts of God better concealed in a soul, under the double mantle of humility and simplicity.

For forty-six years did she lead a life of obscurity and toil, seeking no other satisfaction than that of pleasing God; she sanctified herself in the lowliest paths by a faithful correspondence to grace, and an exact compliance with the practices of a Community life. The favors she received from Heaven never filled her heart with pride; witness of the wonders daily wrought by the medal, she never uttered a word that might lead others to suspect how much more she knew about it than any one else.

Might we not say, she had chosen for her motto these words of À Kempis: "Love to be unknown and accounted as nothing?" How faithfully these traits portray the true daughter of the humble Vincent de Paul!

What, in Heaven, must be the glory of those whose earthly life was one of self-abasement? Do we not already perceive a faint radiance of this glory? The obsequies of the humble servant of the poor resembled a triumph; by an almost unheard of exception, her body remains in the midst of her spiritual family; her tomb is visited by persons of every condition, who, with confidence, recommend themselves to her intercession, and many of whom assure us that their petitions have been granted. In fine, this biographical notice discloses what Sister Catherine so carefully concealed, and thus accomplishes Our Lord's promise: "He who humbleth himself, shall be exalted."