Feast day: November 27
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
Commemorates the apparitions of Mary to St. Catherine Labouré in Paris in 1830, in which she asked that a medal be struck bearing her image and the prayer of the Immaculate Conception.
The feast of November 27 recalls a series of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Paris in 1830 to a young, recently arrived novice of the Daughters of Charity, St. Catherine Labouré. In the convent chapel on the Rue du Bac, Catherine reported, Our Lady appeared to her and entrusted to her a mission for the whole world.
In one vision Mary stood upon a globe, rays of light streaming from her open hands, encircled by the words: 'O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.' She asked that a medal be struck in this image, promising that great graces would be given to those who wore it and prayed for her intercession. On the reverse Catherine saw the letter M entwined with a cross, and the hearts of Jesus and Mary.
With the approval of her confessor and, in time, the archbishop of Paris, the medal was made and distributed — and the response was extraordinary. So many cures, conversions, and answered prayers were reported by those who wore it that the people themselves gave it the name by which it has been known ever since: the 'Miraculous Medal.' Within a few years millions had been struck and were spreading across the world.
Catherine Labouré, for her part, kept her identity as the visionary secret for the rest of her life, living in humble obscurity. The devotion she set in motion, however, became one of the most widespread in the Church, and the image she described — Mary, the Immaculate Conception, pouring out grace upon all who turn to her — is worn by countless Christians to this day.
Mary asked that a medal be made promising graces to all who wore it; so many cures and conversions followed that people simply called it 'the Miraculous Medal.'
Source: newadvent.org/cathen/10115a.htm
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