We are here today in the Chapel that since 1830 has contained the relics of Saint Vincent de Paul. And how does that concern us as members of AMM?

We all know well that we are connected to the Marian Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal on rue du Bac, the place where Mary appeared to Saint Catherine Labouré, the place where Mary revealed the medal to Saint Catherine. It is the Motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, and it is where we are gathering this week.

Before the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin took place, thought, it is good to recall how Saint Catherine encountered Saint Vincent. As a young farm girl in Fain-les-Moutiers, the place that you are going to visit on Wednesday, she would often go to the parish church to pray, even in the cold of winter. One night, she dreamed that she was in the village church, where an elderly priest was celebrating Mass. She attended this Mass, and was greatly touched by it. After a little while, the priest whom she did not know signaled for her to come closer. Frightened, she drew away from him.

After leaving the church, she went to visit a sick person. She met the elderly priest there once again, and he said to her: “My child, it’s good to take care of those who are ill. You flee from me now, but one day you will be happy to come to me. God has a plan for you, never forget that.” When she awoke, she realized it was all just a dream whose meaning she did not yet understand.

There was a house of Daughters of Charity in Chatillon, and some time later Catherine went there one day to talk to the Superior about her possible vocation and to ask her advice. As she entered the parlor, Catherine’s attention was drawn to a painting that perfectly resembled the priest she had seen in her dream. She asked who it was, and when she learned that it was Saint Vincent de Paul, the mystery became clear and she understood it as a call from God. And so in early 1830, having finally received approval from her father, she began her Postulancy with the Sisters in Chatillon.

On April 21, 1830, after this three month stage in Chatillon, she arrived at the novitiate at rue du Bac in Paris. She was twenty-four years old. From the time of her arrival in the seminary, Sister Catherine had the joy of participating with the other “Seminary Sisters” in a magnificent ceremony. The body of Saint Vincent de Paul, which had been hidden during the French Revolution, was solemnly transported from Notre Dame Cathedral to the Vincentian’s new chapel here on rue de Sevres. His body was laid out in a silver reliquary that had been donated by the diocese of Paris, just as it appears now, and the procession was accompanied by a huge crowd.

Eight hundred Daughters of Charity processed behind this reliquary, two hundred of them accompanied by groups of children. The Seminary Sisters naturally had a place of honor. Sister Catherine, in great awe, was following the one who earlier had called her to serve the God of Charity. Her dream was coming true to the last detail. This great wave of prayer intensified during the course of a novena that took place around the reliquary. The novices participated in it as well. Returning to rue du Bac, Sister Catherine then had a vision of the heart of Saint Vincent. She wrote: “It appeared to me three different times, on three consecutive days, first it was white representing peace, calm, innocence and union, then red like fire, representing the charity that should shine in our hearts, then a blackish-red, which made me feel a sense of  sadness within, and seemed to have to do with government changes.”

Three months later, King Charles X was overthrown and France suffered the horrors of a revolution. Catherine, for her part, with a humble and selfless disposition, offered her Community all her good will, and great desire to serve poor persons, the suffering members of Jesus Christ. She loved Mary and hoped to see her. In the silence of the Seminary, full of trust, the young Sister waited. That was where she was favored with the amazing apparitions that you all know.

Today, as Saint Catherine did, we are making a pilgrimage to the Founder of the Congregation of the Mission and the Company of the Daughters of Charity. Catherine spent her whole life taking care of elderly persons. In our day, this responsibility remains a very important one. There are many persons in our midst who are in need of presence both corporally and spiritually.

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