Dogma of the Immaculate Conception

At the time Our Lady appeared to Sr. Catherine Labouré in Paris in 1830, the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, although widely believed, was not a dogma of the Church requiring belief. Pope Pius IX is thought to have been influenced by the apparitions to Catherine Labouré in her convent in the Rue du Bac when he decided to consult with the Church on the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.

He received overwhelming support and on 8th December 1854 declared Our Lady to have been free of sin (immaculate) from the moment of her conception.

Four years later, in 1858, Our Lady appeared to Bernadette at Lourdes and, when asked who she was, she replied, "I am the Immaculate Conception." So the apparitions in the rue du Bac in 1830 and the Miraculous Medal prepared for the dogma of the Immaculate Conception to be proclaimed in 1854, and the apparition at Lourdes in 1858 confirmed it.