Feast of the Miraculous Medal - November 27th

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Gratefully borrowed from the Our Lady of Fatima Chapel bulletin: 

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
Today's Feast Day - November 27th




O Mary Conceived Without Sin, Pray For Us Who Have Recourse To Thee

Not long after France's horrific Reign of Terror, in January of 1830, a young, twenty-three year old Catherine Labouré entered the hospice of the Daughters of Charity at Chatillon-sur-Seine. It was during these days that the Masonic government encouraged the travesty of daily sacrilege, all the while blasphemously committed in the name of liberté, egalité and fraternité - freedom, equality and brotherhood!

Even the body of Saint Genevieve, the Patroness of France, was desecrated. Saint Vincent de Paul's body had been hidden, but four days after Sister Catherine's entry into the Mother House at Rue de Bac in Paris, Saint Vincent's remains were transferred back to his own church with a defiant and joyous procession.


The First Apparition

Later that same year, Sister Catherine was blessed with the apparitions of Mary Immaculate to which we owe the Miraculous Medal. The first apparition came on the eve of the feast of Saint Vincent, July 19th. The mother superior had given each of the novices a piece of cloth from the holy founder's surplice, in which Sister Catherine earnestly prayed to Saint Vincent that she might, with her own eyes, see the Mother of God.

That night, a beautiful child awoke her from her sleep, saying: "Sister Labouré, come to the chapel; the Blessed Virgin is waiting for you!" When Sister Catherine went to the chapel, she found it ablaze with lights as if prepared for Midnight Mass. Quietly, she knelt at the Communion rail, and suddenly heard the rustle of a silk dress. The Blessed Virgin, in a vision of glory, sat in a chair like that of Saint Anne's.

Sister Catherine arose, then went over and knelt, resting her hands in the Virgin's lap, and felt the Virgin's arms around her, as she said: "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." Then, a pained expression crossed the Blessed Virgin's face:

"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." Then, like a fading shadow, Our Lady was gone!



The Second Apparition

Four months passed until our Blessed Lady returned to Rue du Bac. Here are Sister Catherine's own words describing the apparition:

"On the 27th of November, 1830 …while making my meditation in profound silence …I seemed to hear on the right hand side of the sanctuary something like the rustling of a silk dress. Glancing in that direction, I perceived the Blessed Virgin standing near Saint Joseph's picture. 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. On her fingers were many rings, filled with jewels and precious stones, from which shining rays of light descended. As I was busy contemplating her, the Blessed Virgin fixed her eyes upon me, and a voice said in the depths of my heart:

'This orb which you see is the world, France in particular, and each person individually. I am praying for it and for everyone in the world. The rays which fall on this orb are the graces which I give to those who ask for them. But there are no rays from some of the stones. For many people fail to receive graces because they neglect to ask for them.'

There now formed around the Blessed Virgin a frame rather oval in shape on which were written in letters of gold these words: 'O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.' Then a voice said to me:

'Have a medal struck upon this model. All those who wear it, when it is blessed, will receive great graces especially if they wear it round the neck. Those who repeat this prayer with devotion will be in a special manner under the protection of the Mother of God. Graces will be abundantly bestowed upon those who have confidence.'

At the same instant, the oval frame seemed to turn around. Then I saw on the back of it the letter 'M', surmounted by a cross, with a crossbar beneath it, and under the monogram of the name of Mary, the Holy Hearts of Jesus and of His Mother; the first surrounded by a crown of thorns and the second transpierced by a sword. I was anxious to know what words must be placed on the reverse side of the medal; and after many prayers, one day in meditation, I seemed to hear a voice which said to me: 'The 'M' with the Cross and the two Hearts tell enough.'"

Encircling the sphere were twelve stars bordering the golden elliptical frame. Originally, it was named The Medal of the Immaculate Conception. The medal streamed from the presses by the millions, quickly overflowing France, and well into the world beyond. Not long after, there was an epidemic in France. The death rate soared and medical science was unable to cope with the crisis. People turned to the Sisters of Charity who gave them the Medal with the assurance that great graces would be showered upon all who would wear it with confidence.

After the first cures, people demanded it excitedly. So many favors, cures, and conversions were effected through its instrumentality that its name and doctrinal significance were lost in the clamor; it became known simply as The Miraculous Medal.

This apparition was the Immaculata's first official herald; and this Heaven-sent insignia ushered in what became known as the modern Age of Mary. It would prepare the world for the great declaration a quarter of a century later - when Pope Blessed Pius IX would declare the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception as an article of Faith and an essential element of Catholic belief.

The Incorrupt Body of Saint Catherine Labouré

On the last day of 1876, Sister Catherine passed to her eternal reward. For the forty-six years from the year of the apparitions until her death, only she and her confessor knew who it was to whom the famous Miraculous Medal was revealed. As the years passed by, Sister Catherine performed daily her mundane and very ordinary tasks of sewing and door keeping, unknown to the world around her, which was buzzing with the miraculous effects of the Medal.

When Sister Catherine's body was exhumed for beatification 57 years after her death in 1933, it was found as fresh as the day it was buried - completely incorrupt! In 1947, she was canonized by Pope Pius XII. The feast day of Saint Catherine Labouré is tomorrow, November 28th. Her incorrupt body can still be seen today at the Mother House of the Daughters of Charity in The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, 140 Rue du Bac in Paris, France.


THIS DAY IN HISTORY

On the Anniversary of today's feast day, at the dawn of the Twentieth Century, in 1902, Marie-Julie Jahenny, a French Stigmatist, received a Church approved message from Our Lord which warned of a "new liturgy" that would one day be instituted:

"I give you a warning. The disciples who are not of My Gospel are now working hard to remake according to their ideas, and under the influence of the enemy of souls, a Mass that contains words which are odious in My sight. When the fatal hour arrives where the faith of my priest is put to the test, it will be these texts that will be celebrated, in this second period. The first period is the one of My Priesthood, existing since Me. The second is the one of the persecution, when the enemies of the Faith and of Holy Religion will impose their formulas in the book of the second celebration. These infamous spirits are those who crucified Me and are awaiting the kingdom of the new messiah. Many of My holy priests will refuse this book, sealed with the words of the abyss. Unfortunately, amongst them are those who will accept it." -  The Breton Stigmatist