By Paul Kengor, American Spectator - Catherine Labouré was a nun who lived in 19th-century Paris. She was born on May 2, 1806, the ninth of 11 children in a farming family in the village of Fain-lès-Moutiers. Her mother died when Catherine was 9, and the little girl thereafter committed herself to the Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, as her protector. Her father and brothers attempted to marry her off, including with two marriage proposals, but Catherine deeply desired religious life. She eventually entered the Daughters of Charity convent at Rue du Bac in Paris.