THE STORY OF THE MEDAL

In 1830, Our Blessed Mother appeared as the Immaculate Conception to Sister (now Saint) Catherine Laboure, a young novice of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. The apparition took place in their mother house chapel at 140 rue du Bac, Paris, France, where pilgrims by the thousands from all over the world continually come to pray.

Here, in Saint Catherine's own words, is a description of the apparition of November 27,1830, when Our Lady showed the Medal to her:

Her feet rested on a white globe...I saw rings on her fingers...Each ring was set with gems...the larger gems emitted greater rays and the smaller gems, smaller rays...I could not express...what I saw, the beauty and the brilliance of the dazzling rays...A frame...formed round the Blessed Virgin. Within it was written in letters of gold: 'O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee'...At this instant the tableau seemed to turn, and I beheld the reverse of the Medal; a large M surmounted by a bar and a cross; beneath the M were the hearts of Jesus and Mary, the one crowned with thorns, the other pierced with a sword.

Then a voice said to me: 'Have a medal struck after this model. All those who wear it will receive great graces.'

The front of the Medal represents Mary standing on the earth, her foot crushing the head of a serpent, and her hands outstretched to all who ask her assistance. The prayers encircling her reflects her title as the Immaculate Conception: "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee: ' The rays of light from her hands symbolize the graces which she is eager to bestow upon those who wear her Medal and pray to her.

When Saint Catherine related the vision to her confessor, Vincentian Father, Jean Marie Aladel, he asked her whether she had seen any writing on the back of the Medal. She answered that she had seen none at all. "Ah," he said, "ask the Blessed Virgin what to put there." The Sister obeyed and prayed to Mary a long time for this information. One day during meditation she seemed to hear a voice saying: "The M and the two hearts express enough."

In 1832 the first Medals were made according to Our Lady s design. They were freely circulated, and in a short time were worn by millions. Innumerable wonders followed: health was restored, bad habits broken, dangers averted- until the little Medal of the Immaculate Conception soon became known by the name it bears today, the Miraculous Medal.

Interestingly, it was not until the year of her death in 1876 that Saint Catherine revealed that she had received the Medal from Mary. She had kept the secret for 46 years.