The Miraculous Medal

Page 16 in "Marian Devotions in the Domestic Church"

Catherine Fournier and Peter Fournier

“O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.” 

Saint Catherine Labouré was born in Burgundy, France, on May 2, 1806. Her mother insisted on having her baptized only minutes after her birth, a condition she did not request for any of her other ten children. 

At an early age, Catherine entered the community of the Daughters of Charity (also called the Sisters of Charity), in obedience to a vision in which Saint Vincent de Paul told her that God wanted her to nurse the sick. When Catherine was still a novice, only twenty-four years old, the Virgin Mary appeared to her, on July 18, 1830, in the community's motherhouse in Paris. 

Going to the chapel on the instructions of an angelic child who had wakened her, Catherine saw a lady seated in a chair to the left of the altar. When Catherine knelt before her and rested her hands in the lady's lap, she was told how to act in times of trial, shown the altar as a source of all consolation, and warned of an anticlerical revolt (which took place forty years later, in 1870). 

A second apparition occurred on November 27 in 1830. The Lady showed Catherine the image that represented the front and back of a medal. The medal was that of the Immaculate Conception, now known as the "Miraculous Medal". Our Blessed Mother asked Catherine to have such medals made and distributed. She told Catherine that wearers of the medal would receive many graces. 

At the time, only her confessor knew of the apparitions and instructions that she was receiving. He helped her to have the medals made and distributed, and he kept her identity secret. Devotion to the medal and the Immaculate Conception spread. Not until shortly before her death, in 1876, did anyone else know the identity of the nun who had begun the devotion. 

Saint Catherine Labouré died on December 31. Her body was buried in a crypt beneath the motherhouse's church; and, some fifteen years later, it was found to be incorrupt. 

In the years since this devotion began, millions of medals have been distributed. Many graces and conversions have been attributed to the wearing of the medal. One of the more famous and dramatic of these conversions is that of the Jewish agnostic Alphonse Ratisbonne. 

M. Ratisbonne vigorously denied the importance of God and faith and scoffed at a friend's efforts to bring him into the Church; but, reluctantly, he agreed to wear a Miraculous Medal and pray the Memorare. 

While visiting Rome, he happened to visit the church of Sant' Andrea delle Fratte. There, to his surprise and consternation, he saw a vision of the Blessed Virgin exactly as she is represented on the medal. She asked him why he persisted in denying her Son. Alphonse quickly repented and converted. 

Saint Maximilian Kolbe, who had a special fondness for the story of Alphonse Ratisbonne, celebrated his first Mass, after his ordination, in the church of Sant' Andrea della Fratte. The story was for him a wonderful example of the love and care of Mary, and also the inspiration for founding the Militia Immaculata movement; wearing the medal and giving it away are integral parts of the movement. He called the Miraculous Medal "a bullet" with which the faithful soldier hits the enemy—that is, evil—and thus rescues souls.

The Front On the front of the medal is an image of the Mother of God, encircled by a banner carrying the prayer: "O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you."

Mary stands on a globe of the world and on a twisted serpent, the devil. This represents the conflict between good and evil, between Satan and her Son—our Lord, Jesus Christ. She holds her hands out to us, palms outward and down, as if to send heavenly grace into our waiting hearts. 

The Back On the back of the medal is a large letter M with a Cross above it. The M is for Mary and for Mother. She is the Mother of all God's people—a people founded on the twelve Apostles, signified by the twelve stars arranged around the rim. Below the M are two intertwined hearts. These are the hearts of Jesus and Mary. Mary's heart was "pierced by a sword" just as the heart of her Son was pierced by the soldier's spear. The hearts thus joined together are a reminder of God's love for us. As Christ offered Himself on the Cross and Mary stood at His feet, Mother and Son were united in the work of redemption. The medal tells the essential story of our Faith. It is a mini-catechism for everyone who examines it.

O Mary, conceived without sin, 

pray for us who have recourse to you, 

and for all who do not have recourse to you,  

especially the enemies of the Church 

and those recommended to you. Amen. 

O Virgin Mother of God, Mary Immaculate,
we dedicate and consecrate ourselves to you
under the title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

May this Medal be for each one of us a sure sign
of your affection for us
and a constant reminder of our duties toward you.

Ever while wearing it,
may we be blessed by your loving protection
and preserved in the grace of your Son.

O Most Powerful Virgin,
Mother of our Savior,
keep us close to you every moment of our lives.

Obtain for us, your children,
the grace of a happy death;
so that in union with you,
we may enjoy the bliss of heaven forever. Amen.