On the night of July 18-19, 1830, in the chapel of the Daughters of Charity on the Rue du Bac in Paris, a young novice named Catherine Labouré was awakened by her guardian angel and led to the chapel for a private apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary spoke with her for over two hours about the troubled state of France and the broader Church. In a second apparition that November, Catherine saw Mary standing on a globe with rays of light streaming from her hands, surrounded by a frame inscribed with the words: 'O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.' On the reverse of this vision was a cruciform M with twelve stars, a heart of Christ crowned with thorns, and a heart of Mary pierced with a sword. Mary instructed Catherine: 'Have a medal struck after this model. Those who wear it will receive great graces, especially if they wear it round their neck.' The medal was struck in 1832 with the approval of the Archbishop of Paris. Within five years it had been distributed in such numbers and accompanied so many reported intercessions that the popular Catholic imagination renamed it 'the Miraculous Medal,' a name the Church eventually adopted. The 1830 apparitions are notable as one of the principal Marian events of the modern era, predating Lourdes (1858) by twenty-eight years and Fatima (1917) by eighty-seven. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception — at the heart of the medal's central inscription — was formally defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854, twenty-four years after Catherine's visions. Catherine Labouré remained at her convent in Reuilly, working with the elderly poor, for the remaining forty-six years of her life. She was canonized in 1947 by Pope Pius XII. The novena to the Miraculous Medal is appropriate for: illness (especially with poor prognosis — the medal's reputation began with healings), conversion of family members, protection during pregnancy (a long-standing Catholic tradition of pinning the medal to a mother's gown or carrying it through labor), and any difficult moment in which a soul seeks Mary's specific maternal intercession through this particular sign.
Anonymous, 19th century
10 min
Duration
9 days
Commitment
Beginner-Friendly
Level
St. Catherine Laboure
Patron Saint
How to Pray
Pray once daily for nine consecutive days. The traditional structure: (1) Begin with the Sign of the Cross; (2) Pray the Memorare or three Hail Marys as an opening Marian invocation; (3) Pray the novena prayer to the Immaculate Virgin through the Miraculous Medal; (4) Conclude with the medal's central inscription as an aspiration: 'O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee'; (5) Name your specific intention. If possible, wear the Miraculous Medal — physically — during the novena. The medal is not a charm; the tradition is that wearing it expresses confidence in Mary's intercession and the wearer's openness to grace. Catholic chapels and shrines distribute Miraculous Medals freely (the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal in Germantown, Pennsylvania, the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal in Philadelphia, and the original Rue du Bac chapel in Paris among the most-visited sources). The novena may be prayed at any time but is especially appropriate in the days leading up to the Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal (November 27) or the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (December 8). Many Catholics also use the Miraculous Medal as a sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary — pairing the novena with St. Maximilian Kolbe's Total Consecration prayer or the longer 33-day preparation for Marian consecration (the de Montfort tradition). For families praying for an absent or struggling loved one, a traditional practice is to slip a Miraculous Medal into the loved one's belongings — a wallet, a coat pocket, a backpack — as a small sign of constant maternal accompaniment.
Prayer Text
O Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus and our Mother, penetrated with the most lively confidence in your all-powerful and never-failing intercession, manifested so often through the Miraculous Medal, we your loving and trustful children implore you to obtain for us the graces and favors we ask during this novena, if they be beneficial to our immortal souls, and the souls for whom we pray. (Mention your intention.) You know, O Mary, how often our souls have been the sanctuaries of your Son who hates iniquity. Obtain for us then a deep hatred of sin and that purity of heart which will attach us to God alone. Amen.
Coordinate sustained prayer for someone you love. Volunteers fill 30-minute slots covering days or weeks; the family receives a spiritual bouquet at the end.
