Praised be Jesus Saint Mary, now and forever.
In 1830, Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Laboure and asked her to have a medal made that would soon become known as the Miraculous Medal.
She was born to a farm family on May 2nd, 1806, she was the ninth of the ten surviving children.
She entered the Daughters of Charity on January 22nd, 1830, and on April 21st she began her novitiate at Paris in the convent on the Rue du Bac.
She had visions and received locutions, which she revealed only to her confessor, Fr. Jean Marie Aladel.
She saw the heart of St. Vincent de Paul.
She saw Christ in the Eucharist on Trinity Sunday.
On June 17th, 1830, the Vigil of the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul, she was awakened by her guardian angel at 1130 p.m., and the angel appeared as a child and led her to the chapel to speak with Our Lady.
They spoke for about two hours.
The Blessed Virgin told St. Catherine that she would be entrusted with a mission, that she would have to face contradictions, but should obey her confessor.
She told her with many tears about the great trials that would befall France.
When the novice told her confessor, he told her to take no interest in these things and to forget about them.
But in July there was a revolution in France, and some of St. Catherine's predictions began to come true.
After this, he listened to the young novice with more attention, though he feigned to still be disinterested.
The Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Catherine again in November, giving her the mission of having a medal struck.
There were at least three visions showing what the medal was supposed to look like, but because her confessor didn't seem interested, she reported only two of these, one on November 27th and the other in December.
In the scene representing the front of the medal, Our Lady was wearing a white veil that went down to her feet and a robe that was the color of the dawn, a bluish color.
She was standing on a globe, only half of which was visible.
This represented the world, France in particular, and each individual.
Also in her hand she held a globe which represented the world.
So the globe below her feet is the world as receiving graces from her, or France, or individuals as receiving graces from her.
Well, the globe in her hand is a common symbol for sovereigns, showing that they have power over the world, for she is the queen of the world.
Under her feet was a serpent of greenish color with yellow spots.
Then Our Lady's fingers could be seen full of rings, three on each finger.
From the gems on many of these rings came rays, which grew broader as they descended toward the globe, so that her feet could no longer be seen.
An interior voice explained, these rays are symbols of the favors Our Lady sheds on all who ask.
The stones from which no rays come symbolize the graces unasked.
It is impressed on St. Catherine how much we ought to pray to Our Lady, how generous she is to all who have recourse to her, and what joy she feels in bestowing graces.
Then the vision was framed with an oval on which was written, O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception would not be defined for another 24 years, but as a doctrine, it was generally believed by Catholics.
St. Catherine was told, strike a medal after this model.
All who wear it will receive great graces, especially if they wear it suspended round the neck.
Graces will be showered on all who wear it with confidence.
Then the picture turned around, and the sister saw the back of the medal.
This had the monogram of the Blessed Virgin, composed of the letter M surmounted by a cross with a bar at its base.
Under the letter M were the two hearts of Jesus and Mary, which she recognized because one was surrounded by a crown of thorns, and the other pierced by a sword.
Twelve stars surrounded the monogram and the hearts.
When St. Catherine told Father Alladele about this, since there was nothing written on the back of the medal, he told her to ask the Blessed Virgin what should be written there.
But the reply came as an interior, or as after some time in prayer, several days, a few weeks perhaps, an interior voice came and said, the M and the two hearts say enough.
The M is Our Lady at the foot of the cross, Our Lady as if suspended from the cross, as if all her graces depend on Christ, as indeed they do.
The two hearts there below the medal are the union of Jesus and Mary, their two hearts working together for the salvation of the world.
At the last apparition, Mary had said to her, My daughter, henceforth you will see me no more, but you will hear my voice during your meditations.
And so it was, she heard the voice of Our Lady saying that the M and the two hearts said enough.
On January 31st, 1831, St. Catherine finished her novitiate and made her religious profession.
Then she was sent to work in another convent.
She kept her secret for her whole life and spent the rest of her life doing humble works like any other daughter of charity.
Fr. Aladel kept in touch, but he was still hesitant about having the medal struck.
Our Lady complained to St. Catherine about the delay, and she replied that she had done all she could, but her confessor didn't believe her.
And Mary said, be calm, a day will come when he will do as I desire.
He is my servant, and he would fear to displease me.
When he heard the report of this, Fr. Aladel became concerned that he could be displeasing Our Lady, and when he had a chance, he went to talk to the Bishop of Paris.
This was at the beginning of 1832.
The Bishop said to strike the medals, since there was nothing about them contrary to the faith.
A cholera epidemic delayed production, so it was only in June that 2,000 medals were struck.
The Bishop received some, and he wanted to put the medal to the test at the first opportunity.
The former Bishop of Mechelen, the de Pradt, was dying after a life of intrigue, in which he had served political interests and taken anti-Roman positions, and then resigned as bishopric to gain a liberal position in government.
The Bishop of Paris wanted to bring him to repentance, not only for his own sake, to save his soul, but to avoid the occasion of scandal that would be caused by his funeral.
Taking a medal with him, he went to see the sick man.
At first, he was refused admittance, but soon the dying man repented of it and sent him an apology, with a request to call again.
When the Bishop came back, De Prat expressed a sincere repentance for his past life, retracted all his errors, and after receiving the last sacraments, died that very night in the Archbishop's arms.
Now it was time to disseminate the medal.
The Daughters of Charity, who had heard rumors of the apparitions, but didn't know who this sister was who had received them, they were only too happy to help.
And so the medal made itself into the hands of many people.
There were many cures, miraculous escapes from danger and conversions, experienced by people at all levels of society.
And so it became known as the Miraculous Medal.
The most famous conversion is that of St. Alphonse Ratisbonne in Paris in 1842.
He was a Jew and almost an atheist when he walked into a church in Rome.
He'd been carrying the medal and saying a prayer on it, as a sort of dare that one of his friends said, you're not afraid to say that prayer are you, you don't think it could do anything, after all you don't believe.
And so he said the prayer, knowing that it couldn't possibly do anything.
And one day when he was waiting in this church in Rome for his friend who had to arrange a funeral, Our Lady appeared to him, and in that apparition he was converted and received a knowledge of all the mysteries of the faith.
After his conversion he wanted to meet the sister who had received the apparitions, but St. Catherine refused to meet with him.
She wanted to keep her secret for her whole life.
She had explained everything to her confessor and she would speak to no one else, not even the Archbishop of Paris.
The medal recalls many truths about Our Lady, but especially her mediation of grace is symbolized by those rays coming from her hands.
She has all graces at our disposal, but we must ask for them, for ourselves and for others.
It is a great joy for her to grant those graces to us.
Praised be Jesus Saint Mary, now and forever.