Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

(Our Lady of Grace)

It was a summer night in Paris, France when the Blessed Virgin Mary first appeared to a young, 24 year-old novice of the Daughters of Charity.  After falling asleep in her room in the motherhouse at Rue de Bac, she was awakened by a small boy.  It was about 11:30 p.m.  The boy shone brightly and was dressed in pure white.  He called to her, “Catherine, Catherine, wake up.  Come to the chapel; the Blessed Virgin is waiting for you.”

Catherine Laboure who had expressed a strong desire to see the Blessed Virgin arose to follow the angel down the hall to the chapel.  The chapel was aglow with lit candles as if prepared for a midnight Mass.  About midnight, Catherine heard a noise much like the rustling of a silk dress.  When she glanced up, she saw a beautiful young woman illuminated by a great white light and wearing a long, white silk dress.  The lady was sitting on the right side of the sanctuary in the Father Director’s chair.  The small angel exclaimed to Catherine, “There is the Blessed Virgin!”  Instantly, Catherine fell to her knees and placed her hands on Mary’s lap.  Mary told her that God wished to give Catherine a mission and warned her of great trials to come for France.

Five months passed before Catherine saw or heard anything from Our Lady.  But, then on November 27, 1830, Our Lady appeared to Catherine, once again in the chapel.  She came dressed entirely in white and holding a ball topped with a little golden cross.  She stood on a globe with a green serpent under her feet.  Soon, a transparent oval shape formed around Our Blessed Mother and around the sides of it these words were written in gold:  O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. 

Beautiful rays illuminated from Mary’s hands, as if grace, itself, was pouring forth from them.  Catherine then heard a voice say, “Have a medal struck after this model.  Those who wear it will receive great graces; abundant graces will be given to those who have confidence.”  Later, the oval turned, so it seemed, and on the reverse side of the envisioned medal the letter ‘M’ appeared surmounted by a cross.  Below it were two hearts; one crowned with a crown of thorns, and the other pierced by a sword.  These signify the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Catherine reported her accounts of the apparitions (including Mary’s instructions given for the medal) to her spiritual director, Fr. Aladel.  However, he remained skeptical and unsure about their authenticity.  The Blessed Virgin appeared to Catherine three more times expressing her disappointment that no progress had been made toward production of the medal.  Distraught, and in tears, Catherine pleaded once more with her confessor.  Not knowing what to do, Fr. Aladel, turned to the archbishop of Paris.  Upon hearing and reading full accounts of the miraculous encounters and finding nothing contrary to the Faith, the archbishop ordered 1500 medals to be cast and distributed throughout France.  Two years had passed since Our Lady’s first request.  But, within the year, numerous reports of cures and conversions were attributed to the medal.  The medal was initially called the Medal of the Immaculate Conception.  However, within a short time, the sought after medal, was well-known as the “Miraculous Medal”. 

Throughout her life, Catherine Laboure never revealed to others (only to Fr. Aladel and the archbishop of Paris) that she was the one God had commissioned on behalf of the medal; nor that it was to her that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared.  She lived a life of obscurity with the Daughters of Charity until her death December 31, 1876.  By then, millions of Miraculous Medals were being worn by believers all over the world. 

Catherine Laboure was canonized a saint in 1947.  St. Catherine's remains (enshrined today in the Rue du Bac chapel of the apparitions) have remained incorrupt.   Her feast day is November 25.

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