Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. On the night of 18 July, 1830, a child awakened Sr. Catherine Labouré (seen above) in her Daughters of Charity convent at 140 Rue du Bac, Paris, telling her to go to the convents chapel where Mary awaited her. There Mary told her: God wishes to charge you with a mission. You will be contradicted, but do not fear; you will have the grace. Tell your spiritual director all that passes within you. Times are evil in France and in the world. Come to the foot of the altar. Graces will be shed on all, great and little, especially upon those who seek them. Another community of sisters will join the Rue du Bac community. The community will become large; you will have the protection of God and Saint Vincent; I will always have my eyes upon you. Later that year, on 27 November, Catherine saw another vision of Mary. She describes her like this: Her height was medium and her countenance, indescribably beautiful. She was dressed in a robe the color of the dawn, high-necked, with plain sleeves. Her head was covered with a white veil, which floated over Her shoulders down to her feet. Her feet rested upon a globe, or rather one half of a globe, for that was all that could be seen. Her hands which were on a level with her waist, held in an easy manner another globe, a figure of the world. Her eyes were raised to Heaven, and her countenance beamed with light as She offered the globe to Our Lord. Mary told her that the globe represented the whole world, especially France, a country whose faithful had recently suffered horrible persecutions in the Revolutions Terrors and was still going through Enlightenment perfidy. The vision changed to Mary, still standing on a globe, rays of light streaming from her fingers, enframed in an oval frame inscribed with the words, O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. The whole vision turned showing the back of the oval inscribed with the letter M entwined with a Cross, and the hearts of Jesus and Mary, the former surrounded with thorns, the latter pierced with a sword. 12 stars circled this oval frame, symbolizing the 12 Tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles, and showing Mary as the Mother of Israel, per the Apocalypse (ch. 12). Mary told her to strike a medal in this form, and that all who wore it after having it blessed would receive graces. Sr. Catherines spiritual director told Catherines story to the Bishop of Paris, who not only allowed the medal to be struck, but received some of them himself. One of these he had with him when ministering to Napoleons dying, heretical chaplain. The dying man had obstinately refused to reconcile with the Church, but as the Bishop was leaving after trying one last time to get him to see the error of his ways, the man suddenly broke down and repented. The Bishop attributed this to the Virgins intercessions through the medal. Another miraculous conversion involved that of a wealthy Jewish banker-lawyer named Alphonse Ratisbonne. He was actually dared to wear one of the medals and to pray the Memorare. This he did, and as he visited a church to arrange a funeral for a friend, he had a vision of Our Lady as she appears on the Medal. He instantly converted, and became a priest. The Medal of the Immaculate Conception, now known as the Miraculous Medal, has become one of the most commonly worn sacramentals in the Roman Church. St. Catherine Labourés body remains incorrupt to this day and can be seen at her convent at Rue du Bac. Note: St. Maximillian Kolbe (+ 1941) adopted the miraculous medal as the badge of the Pious Union of the Militia of the Immaculate Conception in 1917, which he founded in Rome while still a young religious of the Conventual Friars Minor fisheaters/miraculousmedal.html catholictradition.org/Mary/miraculous-medal.htm catholictradition.org/Mary/miraculous-medal2.htm roman-catholic-saints/our-lady-of-the-miraculous-medal.html olrl.org/lives/laboure.shtml magnificat.ca/cal/en/saints/the_miraculous_medal.html salvemariaregina.info/MarianShrines/MiraculousMedal.html catholicharboroffaithandmorals/The%20Miraculous%20Medal.html
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 21:30:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015