Apparently, no religious life could be more ordinary and more simple than Sister Catherine Laboure. The Saint prayed, submitted and obeyed with no comment. She was indeed, as Pius XII declared at the time of her Beatification: ‘The Saint of silence and of the duties of her state.’

A short time after she had received the Habit, she left the Mother House in the Rue du Bac. Her Superiors had arranged for her to take up her duties in the Hospice for old men at Enghien. She remained there all her life.

Sister Catherine was not daunted by any work, however hard. Severe towards herself, careless of fatigue, she accepted all with the calm of those souls whose peace is rooted in their union with God; even the rebuffs of the old men of the Hospice of whom she had charge for nearly forty years, did not disturb her serenity.

She spoke little, and lived in a state of constant recollection.

She was a soul of prayer, and speaks of it thus:

“When I go to the chapel, I put myself before the good God and say to Him: Lord, here I am, give me what You wish. If He gives me something, I am happy and I thank Him. If He gives me nothing, I thank Him still, because I do not deserve anything more. Then I tell Him all that comes into my mind: I tell Him my sorrows and my joys….and I listen.”  –“The Saint of Silence and the Message of Our Lady” No author credited.