# Miraculous Medal

The Miraculous Medal (French: Médaille miraculeuse), also known as the Medal of Our Lady of Graces or the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, is a devotional medal, the design of which was originated by Catherine Labouré following her apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal of Paris, France.
The medal, a sacramental, was made by the goldsmith Adrien Vachette. According to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, sacramentals, by the Church's prayer, prepare the faithful to receive grace and dispose them to cooperate with it.

## Background

Catherine Labouré stated that on July 18, 1830, the eve of the feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, she woke up after hearing the voice of a child calling her and leading her to the chapel of her convent. There, the Virgin Mary appeared to her and said: "God wishes to charge you with a mission...You will be contradicted, but do not fear, you will have grace...Tell your spiritual director all that passes within you...Times are evil. Sorrows will come upon France...The whole world will be upset by miseries of every kind...".
On November 27, 1830, Catherine reported that the Virgin Mary returned during her evening meditations. Mary displayed herself inside an oval frame, standing upon a globe. She wore many rings set with gems that shone rays of light over the globe. Reportedly, Mary said to her that the rays symbolize the graces she is "shedding upon those who ask for them", and that the gems which did not shed light "are the graces for which souls forget to ask". Around the margin of the frame appeared the words Ô Marie, conçue sans péché, priez pour nous qui avons recours à vous ("O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee"). As Catherine watched, the frame seemed to rotate, showing a circle of twelve stars, a large letter 'M' surmounted by a cross, and the stylized Sacred Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns and the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword. Catherine heard the Virgin Mary ask her to "have a Medal struck after this model" and to take these images to her confessor, and that "All who wear them will receive great graces...".
Catherine did so, and after two years of investigation and observation of her ordinary daily behavior, her priest took the information to the archbishop of Paris, Hyacinthe-Louis de Quélen, without revealing Catherine's identity. The request was approved and medallions were designed and produced through the goldsmith Adrien Vachette. The first 1,500 medals, originally called the "Medal of the Immaculate Conception", were minted on June 30, 1832.
During a deadly cholera pandemic, the Daughters of Charity started distributing the medals. After reports of miraculous cures, the demand for the medal rapidly grew in France and other graces were reported, such as conversions. Due to the many reported miracles, it became widely known as the "Miraculous Medal". In 1834, over 500,000 medals had been distributed. By 1835, that number had surpassed 1 million worldwide. By 1839, over 10 million medals had been distributed. And by the time of Catherine Labouré’s death in 1876, more than 1 billion Miraculous Medals had been produced.
The chapel in which Catherine experienced her visions is located at the mother house of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in rue du Bac, Paris. The incorrupt bodies of Saint Catherine Labouré and Saint Louise de Marillac, a co-founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, are interred in the chapel.

## Properties of the medal

Front side:
* Mary stands on a globe, crushing a serpent's head beneath her feet.
* Rays of light shine forth from Mary's hands and rings.
* Words from the vision, originally in French, form an oval frame around the image: "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee".
* 1830, year of the apparitions
Reverse side:
* A crossbar and a cross surmount a large, bold letter 'M'
* Twelve stars mark the perimeter
* Two hearts are depicted underneath the 'M', the left encircled with a crown of thorns, the right pierced by a sword. From each, a flame emanates from the top.

## Symbolism

The elements of the design encapsulate major Marian teachings that have been declared doctrine by the Catholic Church.
Front side:
* Mary stands on a globe – Mary bestowing graces upon the Earth and mankind, assumed into Heaven, describing the original vision, Catherine said Mary appeared radiant as a sunrise, "in all her perfect beauty"
* Crushes the serpent's head underfoot – reference to Genesis 3:15, Mary is engaged in the spiritual battle against evil and Satan (serpent), she protects from evil
* Rays of light from her hands and rings – symbolizing graces from Mary as a Mediatrix, Mary told Catherine that the rays "symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them"
* "O Mary conceived without sin" (part of the prayer) – reference to Mary as the Immaculate Conception
Reverse side:
* The large letter "M" – first letter of the name "Mary"
* The Cross – Jesus Christ's cross as an act of redemption for mankind
* The crossbar - the foot of the Cross, interlacing of the "M" and the crossbar and the Cross shows Mary's close involvement with her son in the mission of human salvation, and standing at the foot of the cross during in his redemptive sacrifice
* 12 stars – the Twelve Apostles and the Church, and the vision of John the Apostle in Revelation 12:1: "And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars", symbolizing the Woman of Apocalypse and Queen of Heaven
* Left heart – the Sacred Heart of Jesus; flaming heart of divine love for mankind, pierced by the lance, encircled by the crown of thorns, surmounted by a cross and bleeding
* Right heart – the Immaculate Heart of Mary; flaming heart of maternal love, pierced by a sword referencing Simeon's prophecy in Luke 2:35

## Church approval

In 1835, following the success of the Miraculous Medal, the archbishop of Paris, Hyacinthe-Louis de Quélen, initiated a canonical inquiry, which was entrusted to Canon Quentin, the Vicar General. Usualy, official recognition of an apparition requires the local bishop to meet personally with the seer. However, in Labouré's case, this was not possible, as she insisted on remaining anonymous and silent.
In 1842, the Jewish man Alphonse Ratisbonne experienced a sudden conversion while wearing the Miraculous Medal as part of a challenge, upon entering the basilica of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte in Rome. He reportedly had a vision of the Virgin Mary, as depicted on the medal. This event underwent a canonical inquiry, and the Church approved the miracle, granting it ecclesiastical sanction, and is commemorated in the office of the Feast of the Miraculous Medal.
On July 23, 1894, Pope Leo XIII approved the Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, composed by the Lazarists. This feast, with a special Office and Mass, was to be celebrated by the priests of the Congregation of the Mission yearly on 27 November. A decree on September 7, 1894, extended the privilege to other religious communities and allowed any priest to celebrate the Mass in chapels attached to the Sisters of Charity.
In 1897, Pope Leo XIII granted a canonical coronation of the statue "of the Immaculate Conception, known as the Miraculous Medal".
In 1947, after a canonical inquiry, Pope Pius XII canonized Catherine Labouré as a saint, which includes an investigation into the apparitions of the Miraculous Medal.
The Miraculous Medal was also granted indulgences by many other Popes throughout time. The 2004 Enchiridion Indulgentiarum grants the partial indulgence to the faithfuls of Christ who use a crucifix or cross, a crown, a scapular, a medal blessed by a priest.

## Veneration

In 1834, the priest John Vianney from Ars acquired a statue of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and placed it on a tabernacle with a door featuring the reverse side of the medal. On May 1, 1836, he consecrated his parish to "Mary conceived without sin".
After his ordination, the Franciscan priest Maximilian Kolbe wished to celebrate his first Mass at Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, where the Immaculate Virgin had converted Alphonse Ratisbonne. In 1917, he founded the Militia of the Immaculate, under the patronage of the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal. On his way to Japan in 1930, he visited France, including rue du Bac, and distributed Miraculous Medals, referring to them as his "ammunition".
Pope John Paul II used a slight variation of the reverse image as his coat of arms, the Marian Cross, a plain cross with an 'M' underneath the right-hand bar (which signified the Blessed Virgin at the foot of the Cross).

## Miracles

In 1833, the Lazarist priest John Gabriel Perboyre recounts the miraculous healing of a fellow priest through the Miraculous Medal. After arriving in China as a missionary, where he would later die as a martyr in 1839, he distributed many medals and reported numerous miracles in his letters.
In 1837, the Miraculous Medal was used by the Archbishop of Paris de Quélen for the conversion and reconciliation with the Church of Dominique-Georges-Frédéric Dufour de Pradt on his deathbed. de Quélen also obtained miraculous healings through the use of the medal and became an advocate of its propagation.
In 1842, the most famous conversion through the Miraculous Medal is that of Alphonse Ratisbonne, a Jewish man who was challenged to wear the medal during his trip to Rome. Upon entering the basilica of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, he experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary as depicted on the medal, leading to his conversion. The miracle was approved by the Church.